Chapter 250: Cinnabar
Prince Duan’s Mansion.
The accumulated snow in Tan Qiu Courtyard bent the bamboo branches.
Li Huan stood by the window, gazing at the empty desk. The plum trees outside had bloomed, their petals falling onto the window paper, resembling cinnabar dots on Xuan paper.
The room was silent.
Everything belonging to Xue Sui had been taken away.
That ivory chessboard was still in the room.
The black pieces were clustered in a corner, the white pieces scattered like stars, much like the unfinished game she left behind.
He stroked a chess piece, recalling an afternoon of playing chess with her amidst tea mist.
“What are you looking at, Your Highness?” Xue Yuechen entered, leaning on Fei Cui’s arm, her pregnant belly already quite heavy.
As she moved, she spoke with a smile, but her eyes held a hint of inquiry.
Li Huan turned to look at her. “Aren’t you going to Shui Yue Nunnery? I’ll accompany you tomorrow to see if anything was missed…”
His voice was calm, but it made Xue Yuechen’s heart sink.
She couldn’t decipher the emotions in Li Huan’s eyes—
It wasn’t hatred, nor love, but a sense of melancholy, as if the sharp edges had been smoothed by the passage of time.
After Xue Liu left, a thin layer of ice seemed to form between her and Li Huan. They could no longer return to their former respectful relationship, and even pretense felt stiff and forced, beyond her strength.
However, she couldn’t afford to dwell on such matters now.
Her body grew heavier, and her fear intensified.
Master Jing Kong had once said that her lack of offspring was due to malevolent spirits preventing the child from being born.
She needed a blood relative sister with a strong fate to ward off disaster for her.
All that had happened before made her believe that Xue Liu’s fate was indeed strong enough…
With Xue Liu’s presence, she had conceived. Without Xue Liu by her side, she couldn’t help but feel anxious. Recently, she had been having frequent nightmares, and she couldn’t bear it any longer. She wanted to stay at Shui Yue Nunnery for a while until she gave birth.
“Your Highness never liked such trivial matters before, why would you suddenly want to accompany me?” She smoothed her hair, a forced smile appearing on her face, which was quickly replaced by mockery.
“Are you perhaps missing Sixth Sister?”
Li Huan did not answer, his gaze falling on a painting of a snowy night chess game on the wall. The woman in the painting had wide sleeves trailing to the ground, her fingertips hovering above the chessboard. Half of her white wrist was visible from her sleeve cuff, and a cinnabar mole on it was dazzlingly vibrant.
After a moment, he spoke faintly.
“If Princess Consort has nothing else, please return to Ying Yue Residence to rest. I wish for some quiet!”
“What is Your Highness angry about?” Xue Yuechen chuckled softly, wrapped in a sable cloak, her palm gently caressing her rounded pregnant belly, accentuated by the brocade. “Are you angry that she’d rather be a nun than accept your favor? Or are you angry at yourself…”
“Presumptuous!”
Li Huan’s brows furrowed.
Since Xue Liu left, Xue Yuechen had become more sharp-tongued and suspicious than usual.
He was impatient.
Impatient with arguments, and impatient with explanations.
“I’m going to the front hall for a meeting.”
He strode away.
Xue Yuechen suddenly grabbed his sleeve, her expression sorrowful, and asked, “If she gets tired of the nunnery’s solitude and wants to return to Prince Duan’s Mansion, will Your Highness take her back?”
Li Huan looked down at her fingertips, recalling the sight of Xue Sui coughing up black blood, her hair, as cold and desolate as frost and snow, falling into his palm like a handful of snow that melted instantly, impossible to grasp.
“Even if I’m willing, she might not be.”
Xue Yuechen released his sleeve and stumbled back, her eyes filled with despair.
She had known the answer all along, yet she couldn’t suppress that sliver of hope and ended up embarrassing herself in front of him…
—
The morning bell of Shui Yue Nunnery pierced through the thin mist.
The sound of the wooden fish murmured…
After finishing her morning prayers, Xue Sui, clad in a gray linen monk’s robe, pushed open the door of her monastic room. She saw Xiao Zhao dozing by the eaves, holding a bamboo broom. Her nose was red from the cold, and her lips were still shiny, not yet wiped clean.
“Stealing food again.” Xue Sui lightly tapped a corridor pillar, startling Xiao Zhao, who scrambled to her feet, nearly knocking over a pottery jar by the wall with the broom.
“Young Lady! You walk so quietly?” Xiao Zhao frantically wiped her mouth, looking a little guilty.
“I got up before dawn to sweep snow, I’ve been busy all morning and haven’t had time to eat…”
Xue Sui: “Wipe your mouth.”
Xiao Zhao stuck out her tongue and gave a mischievous, silly smile.
She always managed to hide some food and drink, or go down the mountain to find some meat. These were her and Ru Yi’s small pleasures, which Abbess Huiming would scold as “mundane things that shouldn’t be in a Buddhist sanctuary.”
Ru Yi naturally chimed in to defend her.
“Sister Xiao Zhao didn’t intentionally go down the mountain to find food; it’s just that the vegetarian meals at the convent are so bland…”
“You two are like greedy cats,” Xue Sui shook her head and chuckled lightly, taking the comb handed to her by Ru Yi…
Although she was bald, the medicinal comb personally crafted by Tianshu, when used to massage her scalp daily after soaking it in clear water, could clear the meridians and promote qi and blood circulation…
“Who was it that secretly ate persimmon cakes last night and got a toothache?”
Xiao Zhao blushed, stuck out her tongue, handed a plain silk handkerchief to Xue Sui, and then instructed Ru Yi, “Go to the kitchen and bring the warm yam porridge, and add some chopped red dates…”
“Got it!” Ru Yi ran off, kicking the accumulated snow on the flagstone path.
Xue Sui watched her retreating figure and slowly sat down.
When she first entered Prince Duan’s Mansion, this maid was still shorter than her by a head. In the blink of an eye, she had grown much taller and her demeanor had become more capable and graceful…
“Young Lady, look! The bellflowers in the courtyard are sprouting!” Xiao Zhao pointed to the corner of the wall and ran out joyfully.
Xue Sui corrected her without looking up.
“That’s not bellflower; it’s the codonopsis root the Abbess planted last year.”
Ru Yi heard the voice, turned back, and giggled.
“Young Lady, do you believe me? Sister Xiao Zhao could mistake codonopsis root for a radish and eat it…”
Xiao Zhao furrowed her brows. “You dare to laugh at me? See if I give you anything to eat anymore…”
The two chased each other in the snow.
Jinshu came out of the monastic room with a basket and shook her head at the sight. “These two maids have no manners, and Young Lady has the leisure to tease them…”
“It’s good for them to be lively. Let them be,” Xue Sui smiled and put down the wooden comb, tucking her cold fingers into her sleeve cuff to warm them with a breath.
“The sun here in the convent is so cold and lonely; we must find something to do…”
Before she finished speaking, she saw Jinshu’s hesitant expression.
She looked up slightly. “Does Senior Disciple Brother have any news?”
Jinshu looked around, approached her, out of the wind, and lowered her voice.
“The arson case at the Lantern Festival market has led to the discovery of inflated losses in the Imperial Granary’s storage. The granary had not been audited for three years, and the ledgers were incomplete. The Emperor was greatly enraged and ordered a strict investigation. Crown Prince discovered that the Changping Granary had privately withheld 200,000 piculs of military grain and resold it to private merchants in Jiangzhou for profit, using moldy grain to make up the numbers and forging transportation losses. Evidence has been secured…”
“To thoroughly investigate the corruption case involving military supplies, the imperial court has dispatched Second Master Xue to escort the grain and fodder transport envoy to Shangjing for trial…”
Xue Sui picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
She still vividly remembered the chaotic scene on the Lantern Festival.
Xizi Death Warriors disguised as acrobats set the fire, and Old Mausoleum Swamp fanned the flames, all to expose the layers of darkness within the Imperial Granary and Changping Granary to the light of day—
The person in charge of the Changping Granary was Guo Zhaohuai’s uncle, Guo Mingyuan.
Li Zhao was indeed meticulous; he followed the clues and uncovered the corruption chain, not disappointing her.
Currently, the war in the Western Frontier is at a stalemate. At this time, embezzling army provisions would cost someone dearly, if not their life.
Xue Qinglian served as the Left Division Director in Jiangzhou.
Sending him to escort the culprits to the capital at this time is quite noteworthy…
“Crown Prince’s actions are shrewd and decisive, leveraging the situation to his advantage. Truly swift and efficient…”
Jinshu’s words abruptly stopped.
A familiar cooing sound came from outside the bamboo fence. In an instant, a Spirit Feather fluttered its wings and landed on her shoulder.
Its beak opened slightly, tapping her earlobe, as if playfully.
She instinctively held its claw. Seeing no letter tube, she smiled and tapped its cold beak.
“Naughty!”
After saying that, she stroked the Spirit Feather’s head and turned back to Jinshu.
“It’s getting cold, and the two maids are starving. We need to find a way to improve their meals…”
Jinshu lowered her eyes and agreed.
Turning around, she saw Ru Yi approaching with a purple ceramic bowl. The honey stains on the rim of the bowl shimmered in the morning light.
“Hot, hot, hot!” Ru Yi placed the bowl on the table, grimacing and blowing on her ear.
“The stove fire in the kitchen was too strong; it almost burned the bowl.”
“No manners,” Jinshu took the bowl and wiped the rim with a handkerchief. “Young Lady is kind and doesn’t blame you, but you are so careless in your work.”
Xue Sui was about to raise her hand when she faintly heard the sound of hurried horse hooves from the mountain gate.
Soon, a young nun called from outside the door.
“Lian Chen, the Abbess requests your presence.”
Xue Sui and Jinshu exchanged a glance.
As they went out, Abbess Huiming was already leading the nuns of the convent to greet them.
The leaden sky was like spilled ink, spreading over the mountain ridge.
Xue Sui looked up and saw the Crown Prince’s procession stopped before the mountain gate. The gilded phoenix-patterned carriage gleamed with a cold light in the howling mountain wind, as if about to break through the serene mountain gate of Shui Yue Nunnery.
