Xia Zhiyuan sat across from me, giving a slight smile that almost dazzled my eyes with his celestial appearance. “It’s rare to meet again, my lady. Truly a matter of fate.”
I steeled myself and said, “Your Highness is joking. May I ask what important matter you have summoned me for?”
“It’s like this,” Xia Zhiyuan leisurely opened his fan and waved it. “I heard that my lady is concerned about her brother’s marriage prospects, so I specially came to see if there is anything I can do to help.”
Was the East Palace simply bored and coming to join the excitement, or had my elder brother’s marriage become a national issue? I looked at him suspiciously and gave a wry smile: “Your Highness’s concern for the people is truly admirable.”
He seemed to notice my doubts and waved his hand. “Please do not be suspicious, my lady. In fact, I have a request and specially came to meet you.
If Your Highness has a request, I will certainly do my best,” I said politely, while my heart was beating nervously. He wanted something from me, yet instead of openly visiting An Manor or arranging a meeting through An Jin, he had taken such a roundabout way to this teahouse. Clearly, he wanted to avoid being overheard. What could be so secretive that not even An Jin could know?
An Jin hesitated slightly and instructed me to wait until he returned to discuss matters.
An Jin was called away by his mother-in-law for a conversation, so I immediately pulled Que’er aside and interrogated her thoroughly. Que’er firmly maintained that she had indeed found An Jin at the Ministry of Personnel’s office and accompanied him home, insisting there was absolutely no romantic involvement with another woman.
I looked her over suspiciously multiple times, and Que’er maintained an air of righteous indignation, ultimately expressing great anger at my doubts. In her view, An Jin had rushed back early upon hearing I had been away from home for a long time, urging his horse forward with great urgency, and I was being unnecessarily suspicious, which was unfair to his sincere intentions.
The atmosphere in the house that day was somewhat strange. His mother and An Jin had been talking in the room and hadn’t even eaten dinner.
It wasn’t until the lamps were lit that An Jin returned to the room, looking slightly tired.
I stood in the center of the room, hesitating whether to demand an immediate explanation. Instead, he saw my hesitant expression and took the initiative to explain the situation.
It was indeed related to the Eastern Palace. An Jin had previously fallen out with the Eastern Palace—he glossed over the specifics, which I assumed was some romantic entanglement involving a woman—he was worried the Eastern Palace might harm me. After having offended the Seventh Princess, he had Que’er monitor my movements closely. Today, when the Eastern Palace was at the Spring Wind Tea House, Que’er ran to the Ministry of Personnel to notify him, and they hurriedly rushed towards the tea house but encountered some obstruction. Regarding the lipstick marks on his collar, he merely said a woman was among those obstructing them.
Later, they arrived at the tea house to find that both I and the Eastern Palace had already left. They could only return home to check and fortunately found that I had indeed returned safely.
With this explanation, I felt suddenly enlightened. No wonder An Jin had suddenly appeared when I was dining with Miss Song San—it was likely because the Eastern Palace was also in that restaurant.
An Jin asked about the details of my meeting with the Eastern Palace, and I simply said we chatted briefly. An Jin clearly didn’t believe me but didn’t press further, only instructing me to be extra careful in the future. However, I couldn’t understand how the future emperor could engage in such an unscrupulous act of transferring hatred and using his enemy’s wife for revenge.
An Jin scoffed, “Knowing someone’s face doesn’t mean knowing their heart. Just because he’s the future emperor doesn’t mean he can’t have a narrow mind or be unscrupulous.”
Although I couldn’t find a reason to refute him, I still felt something was off. If the Eastern Palace truly wanted revenge, he had ample opportunity—why go to such lengths to obstruct An Jin, create chance encounters, just to talk to me and have me paint a portrait of his dancing girl? More importantly, I had already promised to paint for the Eastern Palace. If I didn’t go, I began to worry. If he was as unscrupulous as An Jin suggested, and I broke my word, he would certainly reveal my identity as the Lantern Festival’s Thirteenth Young Master to An Jin. If An Jin found out I was the one who stole his painting, we had worked so hard to restore our harmonious relationship.
It’s not that I’m being difficult; it’s just that the world is too complicated.
An Jin, who always believed in communicating through physical intimacy rather than words, thus our small misunderstanding was ultimately resolved through our passionate “heart-to-heart” after he locked the Lantern Festival outside and shared our bed.
After their “heart-to-heart,” we whispered in bed. I imagined its language would translate to: My master is busy, leaving me locked outside. Alas! Unfortunate fate!
He climbed onto the bed with difficulty, hugging me and saying he was hungry. I then remembered he had been in his mother-in-law’s room without eating dinner, and had previously exhausted himself with their “heart-to-heart” talk, so with the mood of a virtuous wife, I proposed making him a bowl of noodles. He shook his head, saying it was cold outside and he was worried I might freeze, and requested another “heart-to-heart” to alleviate his hunger.
Finally, he settled down, helplessly and carefully hugging me from behind, singing a lullaby to coax me to sleep. I found it familiar and quickly fell asleep, holding his arm in a daze.
In a half-dream, half-awake state, I heard him whispering in my ear.
“…I can do anything… Don’t blame me… Okay…
I smacked my lips and bit his finger. “Won’t blame you… Go to sleep, be good.”
Chapter Twelve: The Eastern Palace’s Infatuation
The Eastern Palace’s efficiency was indeed extraordinary. After a few days, the daughter of the Libretto Official suddenly came to me, saying she was willing to look at my elder brother.
The girl’s expression was like a martyr sacrificing herself, presumably having received special “attention” from the Eastern Palace Lord. I never expected the Eastern Palace to act so unscrupulously. Seeing the girl’s heroic spirit of sacrificing her happiness for her family, I felt somewhat sympathetic. However, my elder brother was unaware of the underlying reasons and seemed to have a not-bad impression of the girl. After weighing my options, I decided to turn a blind eye and let them interact for a while, hoping the girl might discover my brother’s good qualities.
So my elder brother happily went on a date with the girl. My younger sister and I repeatedly urged him to restrain himself and not cause any more incidents.
Although the Eastern Palace’s handling of this matter was not entirely to my satisfaction, they did keep their promise. Next, it was my turn to fulfill my promise and paint a portrait of his dancing girl.
When I told Que’er about this, she immediately objected, saying the Eastern Palace had wolf-like ambitions that were evident to all, and that I was foolishly walking into a tiger’s den.
I noticed she had been speaking to me increasingly rudely, likely due to my mistress’s dignity being overshadowed by An Jin. To maintain my dignity, I made a classic pose of a high-ranking character from a theatrical script: slightly looking down, squinting my eyes to project an air of depth and wisdom.
She stared blankly.
I realized she wasn’t being rude; she simply didn’t take me seriously at all. Since that was the case, I might as well go all out.
