Si Que saw a charming and delicate smile.
You Yuji finally spoke.
“Immoral behavior, unpredictable moods, and easily angered when embarrassed.” She softly repeated the evaluation Si Que had given himself, pausing for a moment. “It’s not a big deal, but it would be better if it didn’t affect innocent people.”
Her eyebrows were gentle, and she asked him softly, “Alright?”
Si Que looked away, and his slightly raised head comfortably rested back on the pillow, his tone becoming more relaxed—
“I’ll try my best,” he said.
After speaking, he looked back at You Yuji, meeting her bright eyes, and his heart slowly softened. He raised his hand and pinched her cheek.
If initially, he had worn a smiling mask in front of her out of a playful attitude, now he clearly understood that he couldn’t help but smile whenever he saw her.
The once discarded smiling mask was now etched in his heart. Just seeing her brought him joy.
Si Que didn’t know why he was so enchanted by this woman, becoming more and more unlike himself. He also didn’t know what exactly he liked about You Yuji. He had asked himself this question many times, but had yet to find an answer.
Si Que looked at the close-by You Yuji, frowning slightly. What was so good about this woman? She just knew a little more, looked a little better, and had a better personality… gentle like honey at times, and intense like wine at others. She had the tolerance to accommodate others, an open mind, and decisive decisiveness…
Not many advantages, just a bit more than him.
“I’m hungry,” You Yuji said.
Si Que’s thoughts were immediately pulled back. He sat up and said, “I just steamed some honey cakes for you in the stove. They should be ready.”
In the blink of an eye, it was early March, and the poison in You Yuji’s body had completely dissipated.
Winter had retreated, and the days were getting longer. At sunset, the afterglow warming the body. You Yuji sat by the window, focused on reading a book in her hand.
Tingyun sat beside her, occasionally shaking the glass bottle in her hand. The crisp sound of two poisonous insects gnawing at each other inside the bottle was pleasing to her ears.
“Tingyun, what does this mean?” You Yuji pointed to a sentence in the book and asked.
Tingyun responded with an “Oh” and said, “The way of poison also has its own jargon. It’s not surprising you don’t understand.”
She then carefully explained the formula to You Yuji in simple terms.
You Yuji tilted her head slightly, thinking, the tassels on her hairpin swaying gently.
Tingyun found it very strange, not understanding why her mistress was suddenly interested in poison techniques, asking her to bring some basic books on the subject. Tingyun felt that her mistress was really not suited for delving into such dark and evil things.
Tingyun secretly thought You Yuji was just temporarily interested and wouldn’t stick with it.
Hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, Tingyun immediately said, “His Highness is coming up. It’s perfect to have him teach you. His Highness is sure to explain better than I do!”
Si Que pushed the door open, heard Tingyun’s words, glanced at You Yuji, and asked, “Explain what?”
Tingyun had already stood up and moved aside.
You Yuji opened the cover of the book and waved it at Si Que, speaking softly, “Just browsing.”
“Why the sudden interest in these things?” Si Que walked over to You Yuji, naturally placing his hand on her shoulder.
Tingyun quietly retreated and closed the door.
“Learning more never hurts. I’m not delving deeply, just understanding the basics would be good.” You Yuji replied.
“You can’t learn this stuff,” Si Que said with certainty.
You Yuji frowned at him. Her personality made her dislike hearing comments like “you can’t do it.”
“Reading theoretical books isn’t enough; you need practice. And practice…” Si Que paused, taking the swaying hairpin from You Yuji’s hair and playing with it with interest, “Are you no longer afraid of spiders?”
You Yuji hesitated, images of those furry, multi-legged creatures floating in her mind.
Si Que laughed, bent down, and placed the hairpin back in You Yuji’s hair, saying, “No need to learn it. You won’t need it in the future.”
The tassel hairpin settled back in her hair, and Si Que gently flicked the hanging tassel with his hand.
Listening to Si Que’s words, You Yuji felt a moment of daze. The effects of the soft poison had completely worn off, and she had regained her healthy body, which filled her with genuine joy. The past month, where she felt weak and powerless every day, needing help even with the smallest tasks, was absolutely terrible.
“Are you fully recovered, sister?”
You Yuji looked up at Si Que, seeing a deep expression in his eyes.
Si Que bent down, pressing his forehead against You Yuji’s brow, saying, “Now that you’re well, we can continue catching our stars together.”
For the past month, the weak and delicate You Yuji had been like the most tempting delicacy on earth. Si Que stayed by her side day and night, feeding her, helping with her makeup, and even assisting with dressing and bathing.
Having such a tempting delicacy nearby constantly teased him. But since You Yuji wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t interested, even though she didn’t refuse, Si Que found no pleasure in one-sided pursuit. For the past month, he felt like a White Bone Demon staring at a piece of Tang Monk’s flesh he couldn’t eat.
Hearing Si Que’s words, the smile on You Yuji’s face slowly faded. She turned her head to look out the open window. The sun had already hidden behind distant mountains, leaving only a bit of afterglow. The eastern sky was gradually darkening, the darkness spreading slowly westward.
In the still faintly white sky, only a few stars could be seen, requiring careful observation to spot.
You Yuji pointed to the few stars in the sky and said, “There are two. Which one should we catch?”
Si Que followed her gaze and casually said, “Both,” then picked her up.
You Yuji’s eyes were still on the window.
Si Que had taken only two steps toward the bed when he noticed her sad expression. He stopped and looked down at her, rare seriousness in his tone, “If not for wanting a child, would you be unwilling?”
You Yuji withdrew her gaze from the window and looked into Si Que’s dark eyes, which were close in front of her. She slowly raised the corners of her mouth, smiling again, and lightly pinched Si Que’s earlobe with the hand resting on his shoulder.
Si Que’s face changed slightly, instinctively dodging to one side. Halfway through the movement, he stopped abruptly, enduring the tingling sensation and letting her pinch and play with his ear.
“Perhaps the fate of having children cannot be forced. Even the stars in the sky know that I am seeking a child with an ulterior motive and are unwilling to fall into my womb,” You Yuji said gently. “If there is no child, so be it. We will look for other remedies for Mother’s illness. There are many physicians in the world, and there must be other ways to treat her besides the prescriptions of Imperial Physician Hu.”
When You Yuji was not in the Prince of Jinnan’s mansion, it became much harder for Cuiyu to leave the residence. She braced herself to ask the princess consort for leave. The princess consort did not see her, and she only met the maidservant by her side. Fortunately, the princess consort granted her leave, and she didn’t mind anything else.
She hurried back to her quarters, quickly changed her clothes, and came out of her room. Passing through the back garden, she saw Hongzan and Si Han.
These days, the princess consort publicly claimed that You Yuji had returned to her maternal home to take care of her mother, so the concubines in the mansion no longer needed to attend Tanxiang Yingyue daily, and life suddenly became leisurely. Somehow, Hongzan and Si Han gradually became acquainted and occasionally made plans to do something together. For example, today, the two of them were sitting in the back garden with needlework, chatting and doing embroidery while enjoying the gentle spring breeze.
Seeing Cuiyu, Hongzan curiously asked, “Are you going out again?”
“Yes, I need to go out for a bit,” Cuiyu replied with a smile, not pausing her steps as she turned and left. However, after turning away, she rolled her eyes and muttered silently to herself, “The last time I went out was twenty-four days ago, again and again… Again, my foot!”
Hongzan and Si Han watched Cuiyu’s figure disappear into the distance. Si Han said, “Isn’t she supposed to be an orphan with no relatives? Why does she keep going out?”
“Who knows,” Hongzan shook her head. “It’s better now. When the lady was still in the mansion, her outings were much more frequent.”
Si Han frowned and asked, “Could she be meeting a lover in secret?”
Hongzan was startled, pricking her finger with the fine needle she was holding, immediately drawing a bead of blood. She quickly wiped the blood with a handkerchief and spoke in a low, hurried voice, “Don’t say such things carelessly. How can we make such accusations?”
Si Han fell silent, not responding, but she still harbored these thoughts. After all, Cuiyu did come from a brothel.
Si Han glanced at Hongzan sitting beside her, a flash of disdain in her eyes.
Si Han thought Chen Anzhi had no standards when choosing women. His concubines seemed numerous, but what kind of women were they? Cuiyu and the deceased one were both from brothels. Hongzan and Chunxing were better, at least clean in body, but still slaves.
There was also a maid from a fallen kingdom, who was actually a man cross-dressing as a woman…
Thinking of Si Que, Si Han’s expression became strange. She looked up in the direction of Tanxiang Yingyue, a doubt arising in her heart—did the lady really return to her maternal home to take care of her mother?
Hasn’t she been away for too long?
Most importantly, she hadn’t seen Si Que for a long time. Liufeng claimed that Si Que was ill and bedridden.
How coincidental, for both of them to be unseen at the same time?
“What are you thinking about, so lost in thought?” Hongzan asked.
Si Han snapped out of it, smiled, and said it was nothing, then continued to do embroidery with Hongzan.
She is now in the Jinnan Prince’s mansion and has to make some connections with the concubines. Although she doesn’t think highly of any of them, given the choice between lowly servant girls and brothel women, she would naturally choose the former. Si Han originally wanted to befriend Chunxing more, since Chunxing had been in the Jinnan Prince’s mansion longer.
However, Chunxing was a dull one, sitting by the window daydreaming all day without a word, making it impossible to form a connection.
Lin Yingying trembled as she brushed the ash off her sleeve. The soft, fine satin material was from Jiang Yunche’s clothes. Lin Yingying, being petite, had secretly tailored these men’s clothes in advance to fit her better.
Lin Yingying looked up at the distant blaze.
The small courtyard where she had lived for several months was being consumed by the raging fire. After the fire was extinguished, they would find a woman’s corpse, a corpse she had dug up from a new grave and brought back a few nights ago, crying as she did so.
She no longer cared whether Jiang Yunche would discover that the corpse was not hers.
She turned and left, her steps initially steady. Passing through the crowd calling for help with the fire, she walked through the bustling market. Once out of sight, she immediately began to run.
The sound of her chaotic footsteps and the increasingly intense heartbeat in her chest echoed in her ears.
Faster! Faster!
Lin Yingying kept telling herself over and over in her mind.
“Yingying!”
At a secluded corner, a carriage was waiting. Cuiyu had been anxiously pacing for a long time and finally saw Lin Yingying.
Seeing Cuiyu, Lin Yingying could hardly hold back her tears and tried hard to force a smile.
“Hurry, I’ve arranged a place for you to stay!” Cuiyu got into the carriage first and reached out her hand to Lin Yingying.
Lin Yingying handed her hand to Cuiyu.
Something fell from Lin Yingying’s sleeve, but in her panic and fear that Jiang Yunche might chase after her, she didn’t notice.
“Yingying, your hairpin fell.” Cuiyu, who loved shiny, valuable things, noticed it immediately.
Lin Yingying turned back, looking at the hairpin lying in the dirty mud.
Suddenly, the image of Jiang Yunche’s slightly tipsy and smiling eyes appeared before her.
