Chapter 239: White Hair Turns
The clouds pressed down like lead blocks on the city, and a sudden autumn rain began to fall.
The rain streaks slanted, washing the old locust tree in Prince Duan’s mansion until it was verdant and dripping.
Li Huan gripped the bamboo ribs of the oil-paper umbrella, his expression cold.
Xue Yuechen, leaning on Fei Cui’s arm, stood beside him. Her pregnant belly was slightly rounded, and the melancholy on her face was more desolate than the ink bamboo painted on the umbrella.
“Your Highness, Third Miss Guo has been waiting for half an hour. She neither enters the house to avoid the rain nor leaves…”
A Ji hesitated, looking at his master’s soaked robe hem.
“She cherishes the feelings for Consort Xue and is determined to save her.”
Li Huan’s brows furrowed slightly, and he raised the umbrella a little, revealing Guo Yunrong’s disheveled figure standing under the locust tree.
She was wearing a honey-colored jacket and skirt today, and her soft satin embroidered shoes were also soaked with rain, making her appear even more pitiable…
No one could understand why a daughter of a Duke’s mansion, a chosen Crown Princess, would go to such lengths for a prisoner awaiting execution, running errands everywhere and standing in the rain like a drowned rat, disregarding her dignity.
What influence did Xue Liu possess to warrant such loyalty from her?
“Go fetch a straw cloak,” Xue Yuechen suddenly said, her voice gentle.
“Also, have the small kitchen simmer a bowl of ginger tea. Young ladies are most afraid of cold and dampness entering their bodies; be careful not to catch a cold.”
A Ji took the order and left.
Xue Yuechen tightened her grip on Fei Cui’s arm and suddenly smiled:
“Your Highness, please don’t blame me for speaking out of turn, but if we don’t agree to Miss Guo’s plea to brave the rain like this… it will make me, her own elder sister, seem cold-hearted, less affectionate than an outsider. We’ll be gossiped about later…”
Li Huan glanced over, his gaze meeting Guo Yunrong’s raised eyes.
The young lady hastily curtsied, her body trembling slightly as if from the wind.
“Greetings, Your Highness, greetings, Princess Consort…”
Just as she was about to bow, Fei Cui stepped forward and stopped her.
“Miss, our Princess Consort is pregnant and cannot receive such a grand bow…”
Guo Yunrong looked embarrassed, her eyes filled with timidity, appearing very ashamed and helpless.
“Yunrong was presumptuous and should not have disturbed the Princess Consort’s rest… but Consort Xue is gravely ill in prison, and the jailers are making things difficult everywhere. Yunrong truly has no other recourse and could not ask anyone else, so I had to shamelessly come to your door… Please forgive me…”
The young lady’s cheeks were flushed, and her voice, mixed with the deep autumn rain, was as faint as a mosquito’s hum.
Li Huan remained silent.
Xue Yuechen, however, reached out as if to support her, her expression gentle.
“Good sister, it’s rare for you to show such loyalty and care for my Sixth Sister. I am grateful, how could I blame you…”
She glanced at Li Huan, then gestured for Fei Cui to drape the straw cloak over her.
“To be honest, my husband and I are already trying to help her.”
Guo Yunrong’s eyes suddenly brightened, and even her breathing became lighter.
“The heavens have eyes; Consort Xue will surely overcome this disaster!”
Xue Yuechen nodded reassuringly at her.
“Don’t worry! I am her sister, how could I abandon her…”
“Thank you, Princess Consort, for your Bodhisattva-like kindness, and thank you, Your Highness, for your magnanimity… Yunrong will remember this kindness today and will pray for blessings for you both for the rest of my life…”
“A Ji—” Li Huan looked at her incessant, hopeful chatter and suddenly showed impatience.
“Prepare the carriage immediately and send Third Miss Guo back to her mansion!”
Guo Yunrong left with trepidation, looking back repeatedly, her breathing suppressed, as if afraid they would go back on their word.
Xue Yuechen watched her slender back, and suddenly felt the prayer beads on her wrist dig in painfully…
These were sent by Fu Shi that morning, who said they were from Pu Ji Temple and had been offered before the Buddha for forty-nine days, capable of protecting the fetus, calming the mind, and warding off disaster.
But at this moment, she could not calm down at all.
Li Zhao’s surprise raid on the West Market last night to capture Ping Le had shaken the court and the country.
Everyone knew that Li Huan and Ping Le were born of the same mother, and Prince Duan’s mansion instantly became the center of attention. If Ping Le’s crime was proven, Li Huan’s situation would be even more difficult than those ministers deeply involved in Ping Le’s case…
Once implicated by Ping Le, the struggle for the Crown Prince, the court’s situation, would all be turned upside down, even rewriting the entire structure…
Then her child in her belly…
Even if it were the legitimate eldest son, its future would be uncertain.
The glory and wealth of the Xue family, her own bright future, had become unpredictable overnight…
The Xiao family had been visiting frequently for the past two days, hinting in their words to Li Huan that he should seize the opportunity to solidify the charges against Li Zhao and Xue Liu for the murder of the consort, thereby completely severing the Crown Prince’s wings.
Xue Yuechen gently stroked her lower abdomen, her brow filled with worry.
“Your Highness, let us go and see Sixth Sister. She must have suffered greatly during her time in prison. If anything were to happen to her, it would also affect the reputation of the Prince’s Mansion…”
Li Huan did not reply, letting the rain drip from the umbrella ribs onto his shoulders as if he were unaware.
–
As night fell, the rain had not stopped.
Li Zhao sat in a carriage under the rain and mist, watching the guards load a three-inch thick cypress wood coffin onto a grain transport boat, his eyes filled with coldness.
The coffins were neatly stacked, covered with freshly cut straw, and soon soaked by the rain…
Guan Ya brought a coarse cloth short suit. Li Zhao glanced at it and casually threw it aside.
“What time is it?”
“The first watch of the night.”
“How is it in the prison?”
Yuan Cang lifted half the curtain and reported in a low voice.
“Reporting to Your Highness, that female prisoner is wearing a specially made human skin mask that bears a seven-tenths resemblance to Sixth Miss Xue…”
Li Zhao’s expression was cold, and he nodded.
Mei Ruhui sat opposite him, warily glancing around.
“Remember, at the third watch, the night soil cart must pass by the outer wall of Bing Zi Prison. When the clapper sounds, we will act…”
Yuan Cang nodded.
Mei Ruhui looked at the swaying lanterns on the grain transport boat, his face full of worry.
“Although Chen Gui has made all the arrangements, the Empress Dowager suddenly summoned Wang Bo’an into the palace tonight. I wonder what her intentions are…”
“It’s been the seventh day. She is more anxious than us about the toxicity of Snow Withering.” Li Zhao wrapped his black iron sword with cloth, his face stern.
“It would be unusual if she didn’t summon Wang Bo’an into the palace at this time…”
Before he finished speaking, there was a light sound from the wooden planks of the cabin.
Li Zhao’s eyes turned cold, and just as he was about to draw his sword…
He saw a black cat poke its wet head out.
“This is ominous!” Mei Ruhui cursed under his breath, feeling a faint cold sweat on his back.
Before departing, he had cast a divination, and the omen was not good.
Everything was arranged flawlessly, yet he felt an inexplicable unease, like this cat that suddenly appeared, exuding an indescribable strangeness…
“Black cats bring wealth, a good omen.” Li Zhao, however, curved his lips into a smile. He rummaged in the carriage for a piece of pastry, broke it into pieces, and placed it in his palm, feeding the cat himself.
Mei Ruhui: “…”
The ruthless Crown Prince and Li Zhao, who shared his snacks with a stray cat.
Yes, it was the same person.
The raindrops accumulated into puddles, reflecting the shadows of one person and one cat.
The cold night was refreshing.
–
The night in Prince Duan’s mansion was so quiet that one could hear the crackling of the candle wick.
Xue Yuechen looked at her swollen eyelids in the bronze mirror, and suddenly her eyes reddened. She threw the comb and brush violently onto the ground.
“Your Highness, please calm your anger…” Fei Cui hurriedly went to pick them up.
Perhaps due to her pregnancy, the Princess Consort had become more sensitive, suspicious, and irritable in recent days. Even servants like Fei Cui, who served her closely, had to be extremely cautious.
Xue Yuechen touched her temples, her face filled with sorrow.
“Have I become ugly?”
“How could that be? With the good fortune of the little heir, Your Highness’s complexion is rosy and you look even more noble than before.”
“Noble?” Xue Yuechen gave a bitter smile. “Even my own husband refuses to see me. What use is this nobility?”
After speaking, she suddenly turned and asked Fei Cui.
“Where is His Highness?”
His Highness had been busy from morning till night and hadn’t visited Ying Yue Residence for days.
Fei Cui felt a little awkward and quickly lowered her head to hide it.
“This servant asked A Ji earlier, and he said His Highness was in the study looking at files…”
“He’s clearly avoiding me. If he doesn’t come to me, then I’ll go find him.”
Xue Yuechen, wrapped in a thick cloak, rushed out into the rain, holding an umbrella. However, the study had a cold stove with no smoke, the teacup was already cold, and the room was empty.
Her expression changed drastically. Drenched in the rain, she rushed down the steps, chasing after him—
She happened to see Li Huan’s carriage disappear beyond the manor gate…
A cold wind swept past, and she swayed slightly.
“Prepare the carriage!”
Li Huan had just left when Xue Yuechen followed him.
The carriage sped through the rainy night. When it stopped, she realized they were at the Ministry of Justice Prison.
She clutched her sweat-soaked handkerchief, her fingertips turning white from the force.
“Princess Consort, let’s go back,” Fei Cui advised. “Such an inauspicious place…”
“No. I must go and see Sixth Sister too.”
Xue Yuechen stubbornly pushed Fei Cui’s hand away and stepped onto the carriage step with a flick of her sleeve.
“Princess Consort, be careful of your footing.” Fei Cui quickly supported her. Before her feet even touched the ground, she suddenly saw lights approaching through the rain curtain ahead.
In the halo of the wind lantern held high by the guard, Li Huan stood with his hands behind his back, his expression as if shrouded in a thin layer of frost.
Xue Yuechen froze in place, her fingers unconsciously stroking her lower abdomen, her face filled with unease.
“Your Highness, your consort was worried about Sixth Sister’s health and rushed here in a moment of urgency…”
Seeing his deep, indifferent gaze fixed on her, her eyes welled up with tears, and she lowered her head aggrievedly.
“Your consort should not have been willful and disturbed Your Highness’s official duties…”
“Let’s go.” Li Huan took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders, extending his hand.
Xue Yuechen looked up in surprise, holding up her wet, heavy skirt, and followed him with small steps.
The musty smell of the dungeon mixed with the scent of blood made Xue Yuechen almost vomit.
The prison corridor was so narrow it seemed endless. The oil lamps on the stone walls flickered, stretching shadows into distorted ghost faces. From behind the wooden bars on either side, occasional groans could be heard, with a teeth-grinding tremor, as if walking on the Yellow Springs Road, indescribably eerie…
She was terrified and followed closely…
Finally, they reached the deepest part of the corridor.
She saw…
The person in the cell.
A woman.
Was it Xue Liu?
She was curled up in the straw, wrapped in tattered prison clothes, her back leaning against the mold-covered stone wall. Her collar was loose, revealing a hideous old scar on her collarbone. The face that always held a smile was now as pale as paper, with dried blood scabs on her lips…
Even more horrifying was that her jet-black hair, as lustrous as lacquer, now shone with an eerie frost-white in the dim light of the prison fire, like moonlight cascading down…
Her raven-black hair had turned white…
Suddenly, it seemed to have drained all her vitality.
“How could this be… how could she be like this?” Xue Yuechen’s gasp was stuck in her throat.
She let go of Li Huan and stumbled to the wooden bars, banging the iron lock until it clanged, tears streaming down her face.
“Your Highness, why is Sixth Sister so ill?”
Li Huan did not answer. With a sweep of his sleeve, he drew his sword like a gust of wind and severed the iron lock, then flashed inside…
His black boots crushed the medicinal dregs scattered on the straw mat, his voice trembling.
“What did you eat? Tell me, what exactly did you eat?”
Xue Sui: Readers, don’t be afraid, it’s not angst…
Li Zhao: ????? So only I am being tormented, and that’s not considered angst?
