The afternoon was overcast. A cool breeze blew by, bringing with it a touch of autumn’s chill.
Jiang Kui yawned repeatedly as she made her way back to Penglai Palace, carrying writing supplies bundled in her arms.
She hadn’t slept since midnight. First she had fought at Tonghua Gate, then looked after the unconscious Zhu Zi’an for a good while, before finally sneaking back into Penglai Palace just before dawn to tidy up and grab her things for class at Chongwen Academy.
As usual, Professor Chang Yong’s lesson was difficult and she barely kept up, drifting in and out of sleep. Like a chick pecking at rice grains, she would doze off for a bit before jerking awake again. The professor seemed to have given up on her altogether – he just carried on with his lecture, occasionally calling on Xie Yuan to answer questions.
After bidding Xie Yuan farewell, Jiang Kui boarded the small carriage back to Penglai Palace. Song Sizan promptly followed her in. To Jiang Kui’s surprise, seeing her unable to stop yawning, Lady Song didn’t reprimand her to sit up properly for once, instead letting her doze off leaning against the carriage wall.
This sixth-rank servant wasn’t so bad after all.
Perhaps copying scriptures for ten days really had granted her exceptional luck today. The two people she feared most had both gone easy on her, even letting her catch a brief nap.
The air in Penglai Palace was infused with a heavy fragrance of aloeswood. Imperial Consort Tang had just returned from Xingqing Palace and was having Doctor Zheng take her pulse for peace and health.
The overcast day rendered the interior dim. Consort Tang seemed to be in less than optimal spirits. She leaned against the chaise with one hand, having dismissed the palace maidservants and keeping only her trusted personal attendants at her side.
Seeing Jiang Kui enter, she gestured towards the door, “Xiaoman, close it please.”
Jiang Kui did as told, drawing the wooden doors shut before taking a seat beside her. Doctor Zheng rose from where she had just finished taking Consort Tang’s pulse. Still kneeling before the chaise, she adopted a solemn expression. “Imperial Consort…”
“Speak freely.” Consort Tang massaged her temples with a tired look.
Doctor Zheng bowed deeply. “Imperial Consort…congratulations are in order. You are with child.”
Crash! Outside the window, someone dropped a flower pot in alarm.
“Who’s eavesdropping out there?” the head palace maid demanded sharply.
Before she even finished speaking, two eunuchs had already dragged a trembling young palace maid back inside. “I didn’t hear anything, Imperial Consort, I swear I didn’t hear anything…” She kowtowed desperately.
“What were you doing outside my window just now?” Consort Tang asked gently.
“I…I was just pruning the plants, Your Ladyship…I accidentally knocked over a pot…” Still kowtowing, the maid explained haltingly.
“Are you certain you didn’t hear anything?” Consort Tang questioned again.
“This servant heard nothing! I heard absolutely nothing!” The maid shook her head frantically.
Consort Tang smiled and inclined her head. “You may leave.”
The maid looked startled, seemingly not expecting Consort Tang to let her off so easily. Still shaking, she backed away out of the doors held open by the two eunuchs who had dragged her in.
A short while later, a faint scream rang out before being abruptly cut off.
“She’s…dead?” Jiang Kui asked softly.
“Mm. I had that area pruned just this morning. What use was there for her to be tending to the plants beneath my window so suspiciously these last few days? I’ve had people trailing her for a while now,” Consort Tang explained tiredly as she rubbed the space between her brows. “There would have been no getting the truth from her even under interrogation, and I couldn’t risk her leaving alive either. She had to be killed.”
“Someone tampered with your birth prevention tonic?”
“I’m not meant to bear children. That is a tacit agreement between His Majesty and I. All these years I’ve drank my tonic daily, how could I possibly be pregnant now? Someone in my palace must have done something.”
“Now that I think about it, Dowager Consort Pei assigning Song Sizan to my palace was likely just to divert my attention…while the real culprit was someone else. I’ll conduct a thorough investigation over the next few days. With your wedding coming up, you must also be extra vigilant.”
“Xiaoman,” She grasped Jiang Kui’s hand. “There are already many people at court planning to impeach our estate on charges of factions and treason…No one can know of my pregnancy…I cannot keep this child.”
Jiang Kui nodded solemnly before asking worriedly, “Auntie…there won’t be trouble for the General’s estate right?”
“Don’t fret, there won’t be. Auntie’s here.” Consort Tang stroked her hair reassuringly. “Just focus on preparing for your upcoming nuptials these next days, and put everything else from your mind.”
“Mm.” Jiang Kui lowered her head.
“Seeing me command someone’s death just now…did it frighten you?” Consort Tang tidied her loose strands of hair. “In the future, you must learn that when faced with those who deserve death, show no softness or hesitation – kill if you must kill. If you do not strike, they will strike first instead.”
Jiang Kui shook her head. “I’m not afraid. I…I’ve killed with my own hands before.”
“Is that so?” Consort Tang murmured. “So my little Man’er has already grown up.”
The two chatted a while longer before Consort Tang noticed Jiang Kui’s persistent drowsiness and released her without further delay. She watched quietly as her niece’s petite figure disappeared through the doors. Complicated emotions swirled in her eyes.
Some time after the doors closed, leaving only Consort Tang and palace maid Ji Ying, Consort Tang heaved a sigh before asking, “Ying’er, any news from the Princess?”
“Yes. The Princess says preparations are underway.”
“I see.” Consort Tang pushed herself up halfway on the chaise. “I hadn’t planned to make a move so soon, intending to scheme for at least another year. But if I don’t act now, the general’s estate will be doomed…Ah, with that family controlling military might, how many have their eyes on such a fat piece of meat?”
“If only Sister Lian were still alive…Eldest Brother is too upright and simple. He never was one for maneuvering and gave others a pretext to accuse us of forming factions and cabals. And I, a member of these so-called factions and cabals, now have to move early to protect my Little Man’er…”
“If the general’s madam were still around, Imperial Consort wouldn’t have to shoulder this alone.” Ji Ying said softly. “If she were still here, perhaps the princess wouldn’t only be a princess now too?”
“Hush, don’t speak recklessly about the past.” Consort Tang placed a hand over her lips. “Let bygones be bygones.”
Ji Ying quietly sealed her mouth shut.
Withdrawing her hand, Consort Tang continued, “Later, prepare a generous gift to be sent to the Eastern Palace on my behalf…Consider it my thanks to Xie Wuyan. The power struggle between the Crown Prince’s party and the Prince of Qi’s clique has His Majesty’s tacit approval. With the crown prince asking for my niece’s hand – he likely wants to pull the Jiang family and its military influence into his princely faction in order to protect my Little Man’er right?”
She heaved a soft sigh. “If I should fail…he will try to salvage what intact eggs he can find amidst the ruins.”
“Xie Wuyan has always been so quiet and unfathomable since he was a child…Who knew he would come to harbor genuine feelings for my niece?”
“In an imperial scion, even a shred of sincerity is hard to come by. His actions thus far show exceptional genuine sentiment.”
“Yet I do not wish for Xiaoman to know.” Consort Tang kneaded her forehead again. “To know someone cares for you that deeply is too heavy a burden.”
“Imperial Consort and Young Lady are both gentle souls.” Ji Ying assented softly.
The flickering flames from the incense burner jumped sporadically before settling back into quiescence.
Upon returning from the main palace hall, Jiang Kui had gone straight to bed and slept until nightfall.
As the autumn rain fell outside, ushering in cooler temperatures, she awoke to the pitter-patter of raindrops against her window. The sound reminded her of a conversation that had taken place many years ago.
Perhaps speaking of killing had brought this memory to the surface – she recalled a discussion with Zhu Zi’an, when she was still known as Little Jiang on the jianghu, about murder back in their private room on the second floor of the bookshop.
She had been in low spirits then, fresh from a fraught battle in the jianghu. Her mood was bleak and she couldn’t stomach the tea he poured.
After sitting mutedly for some time staring at the bamboo partition screen, she had finally spoken up, as if talking to him yet also to herself. “I’ve killed a hundred and seventy two people. Each of them brimmed with vice and sin. Every life I took was to save other lives.”
“Yet I killed them nonetheless,” she had murmured. “If there is divine retribution for acts of murder, then let it befall me.”
The person on the other side had fallen silent for a long stretch, as if he hadn’t heard her at all. She had thought he wouldn’t reply anymore when he suddenly spoke up.
“No,” he had said gently, “let it befall me instead.”
Jiang Kui had paused in surprise, before she registered his next lilting words – “Because I’m taller than you.”
She had immediately bristled in annoyance, rising to rap the partition screen sharply. “Zhu Zi’an!”
His amused voice had replied. “Little Jiang on the rivers and lakes.”
After stewing indignantly for a spell, she had finally retorted, “And are you much taller than me?”
He had seemed to mull it over for a bit before answering, “Mm…quite a lot taller.”
And despite her initial vexation, she had soon forgotten her gloominess altogether.
Listening now to the steady drizzle outside, she opened her eyes where she lay on the chaise and gazed up at the carved birds on the ceiling as she recalled his words from that day.
She was abruptly conscious that he had likely been implying something all along that she had failed to comprehend over those years.
Perhaps…because he hadn’t wanted her to understand?
She thought about how he would always turn his back before a bout of coughs could escape whenever she glanced away. How he would be smiling at her one instant then pressing his lips tightly the next when he thought she wasn’t looking. His furrowed brows and tightly pursed lips when asleep. And how his hand had felt grasping hers…
She wanted to see him.
But what excuse could she use?
Sitting up, Jiang Kui pulled open the yellow pearwood drawer and rummaged inside for a sheaf of papers – the draft Zhu Zi’an had helped her write that was covered all over in red markings from their professor.
She could bring this over to the bookshop to return it to Zhu Zi’an. That way, she could check if he was awake and see how his complexion was faring.
Nodding to herself, she neatly folded the papers before changing into plain robes. Donning a conical woven hat, she quietly slipped out of the palace under the cover of night and rain.
With the wet weather, there was barely anyone on the streets in the vicinity of the Eastern Tower. The bookshop was closed for the day. Storyteller Liu sat behind a desk, dozing off periodically as he leaned on one elbow.
A girlish face peered out from the window, “Master Liu, is Master Pu in?”
Liu Qinghe jerked awake from his catnap to see a breathtakingly beautiful maiden’s visage revealed when she lifted the hat’s broad brim from under the eaves. Raindrops glistened on the tip of her nose. Vivacity shone from her elegant features, tempered by a hint of vigor.
“Young Master Jiang…” Liu Qinghe yawned before rising to open the door. “Master Pu isn’t here today.”
Disappointment flashed briefly across the girl’s expression before swiftly vanishing without a trace. She performed a respectful bow. “I won’t come in then. I have something to return to him. Please help me pass it on and let him know I was looking for him.”
“Wouldn’t Young Master Jiang like a cup of hot tea before you go?” Liu Qinghe called after her retreating figure.
But the maiden in the woven hat had already disappeared into the hazy rain, leaving only a delicate silhouette behind. She didn’t look back, merely waving a hand lightly in departure until the downpour obscured her from sight altogether.
Lowering his gaze, Liu Qinghe spotted a bundle of neatly folded papers left on his window ledge.
Author’s Note:
Sweetness will return very soon!
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