Chapter 31: Crown Prince’s Killing Intent
After Xue Sui finished her meal and tidied up a bit, she went to Shou An Courtyard to pay her respects to Old Madam Cui.
“Sit down.” In just one night, Old Madam Cui looked more than ten years older.
Her loose eye bags drooped, and she lay listlessly on the low couch. Her hair, which was always meticulously styled without a single strand out of place, was now disheveled, making her look like an old tree drained of its sap, its branches hanging limply.
Xue Sui prepared clear congee and pastries, signaling Aunt Jinshu to serve them in fine blue and white porcelain bowls and bring them to Old Madam Cui.
Old Madam Cui shook her head and sighed, “I can’t eat.”
Aunt Jinshu looked troubled and glanced at Xue Sui.
“I’ll do it.” She gently took the bowl, sat firmly on the edge of the couch, and said softly, “I only spent a short while with Third Uncle that day, but I also noticed how filial he was to Grandmother. If a mother cannot bear to part with her son, how can a son bear to see his mother suffer? If Third Uncle is aware in heaven, he surely would not want Grandmother to grieve herself to illness.”
Her tone was calm and steady.
The tears that had gathered in Old Madam Cui’s eyes then rolled down.
“He was such a good person, happily telling me, ‘Mother, I’m leaving now.’ I thought he was going to lose everything and get scolded by his wife, then come back to pester me for money… How could he be gone just like that? It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have lectured him, saying those careless words. Perhaps I angered the Bodhisattva, and he is punishing me for it…”
Xue Sui held the bowl, stirring it slowly with the spoon, and listened to her speak.
After she finished, Xue Sui offered the spoon to her lips again.
Old Madam Cui swallowed a few mouthfuls with tears in her eyes but refused to eat any more.
At that moment, the maid Cui Ping entered, lifting the curtain. She glanced at Xue Sui and stood there hesitantly.
The Old Madam looked up, “Just say what you need to say. Sixth Miss is not an outsider.”
Cui Ping quickly curtsied and replied, “First Madam took a carriage out early this morning and went back to her maternal home.”
The Old Madam was silent for a moment, then suddenly turned her head and asked Xue Sui, “I heard your father stormed out from over there last night, and Fourth Miss has been confined to her quarters. This is the first time in many years. Sixth Girl, you went to Qing Lan Courtyard with your father last night; do you know anything?”
The older the ginger, the spicier it is.
Even immersed in grief, Old Madam Cui’s senses remained sharp.
Xue Sui calmly poured hot water from the purple clay teapot and placed it before the Old Madam.
“Father instructed me to wait in the outer room, so I didn’t hear anything.”
Old Madam Cui knew perfectly well Xue Sui’s standing in the Xue family.
Therefore, she didn’t suspect anything upon hearing this and merely sighed heavily.
“With such a vicious woman, our family is unfortunate.”
After scolding Fu Shi, she thought of her deceased third son, and tears began to flow uncontrollably again, almost beyond her ability to bear.
“Your Third Uncle is all alone in the morgue in Jingzhao Prefecture. He’s gone, and he can’t even be properly buried. As his mother, my heart is being twisted like a knife, it hurts so much…”
Xue Sui said gently, “Once the culprit is caught, we can bring Third Uncle back and bury him properly.”
Old Madam Cui snorted, “What culprit to catch? I know perfectly well in my heart. They simply dislike Third, thinking he’s useless and his character is tainted, fearing he would tarnish the Xue family’s reputation… That vicious woman, she couldn’t wait for Third to have an accident.”
Clearly, the matter of the coin purse had made Old Madam Cui resent Fu Shi.
Xue Sui didn’t offer any platitudes like “please accept my condolences.” After the Old Madam had vented all her resentment, she finally said:
“Your granddaughter knows a shaman who possesses the ability to summon spirits and divine. If not, I could ask him to inquire where Third Uncle’s soul is now and if he has any unfinished wishes.”
Upon hearing this, the Old Madam’s tears flowed anew, and she nodded repeatedly.
She then took Xue Sui’s hand and held it tightly in her palm.
“Sixth Girl, among all the children in the mansion, it is only now, when faced with this, that Grandmother realizes… you are the one who truly understands what it feels like to be cold and warm.”
People cried, spoke, lamented, and comforted her, one after another.
Yet, it was this Sixth Miss, who usually remained silent, whose words made her finally release the pent-up emotion.
“Poor child, from now on, Grandmother will not let anyone look down on you.”
Xue Sui’s eyelids drooped slightly, and she gently patted the Old Madam’s hand without speaking.
If Old Madam Cui had said this when she was eight years old, perhaps things would have been different.
After Xue Sui left Shou An Courtyard, she fetched a bowl of soup from Old Madam Cui’s small kitchen and had Ru Yi deliver it to Liuli Pavilion.
Ru Yi went off happily, but she didn’t expect the maids at Liuli Pavilion to show no mercy, blocking the entrance with their hands on their hips and refusing to let her pass.
Ru Yi tiptoed to peek inside, “Oh, Fourth Miss is crying?”
The faint sound of crying made her feel incredibly pleased, so she placed the soup bowl on the ground.
“Fourth Miss has been confined, and our young lady was heartbroken. She specifically asked the Old Madam for a bowl of ‘staring-at-the-dry-boned’ black chicken soup to be sent to Fourth Miss, so she can properly endure her confinement. Please don’t cry yourself sick; even if you neglect the big things, you must consider the small ones.”
Upon hearing this, the two maids, Qing Zhu and Qing Hong, felt as if their feet were burning coals, wishing they could jump up and curse, but they couldn’t find a single fault with Ru Yi. If they were to argue heatedly, it would make them seem ungrateful.
Seeing them angry, Ru Yi put on a smug expression and cheerfully left them with a parting remark.
“Drink slowly and nourish yourself well. I’m leaving, no need to see me out.”
Back at Li Xiang Courtyard, she described the scene vividly, making Xiao Zhao burst into laughter.
Xue Sui, however, showed no expression.
This tactic was originally taught by Xue Yueying; there was no novelty to it.
However, as fortunes turn, it was time for her to taste what it felt like to be isolated.
This was just the beginning; she had to take it slow. She couldn’t rush.
The next day, after the new rain had stopped, Xue Sui, accompanied by two maids, went out through the back gate with an umbrella.
As the three of them reached the alley entrance, they saw a carriage parked there.
A man was pacing back and forth in front of the carriage, his familiar face filled with anxiety.
A servant ran over from the main gate, out of breath. He didn’t see Xue Sui and the others and only spoke to Gu Jie:
“Fifth Master, Fourth Miss has been confined. Master Xue has forbidden her from leaving.”
“I delivered the items Fifth Master sent into the mansion, and I couldn’t find out anything else.”
It was too late for Gu Jie to stop the servant, and Xue Sui heard everything.
He was extremely annoyed. Seeing Xue Sui approaching, he attacked first.
“Are you here to laugh at my misfortune?”
Xue Sui watched him approach, her gaze meeting his directly.
Gu Jie’s heart skipped a beat, thinking she was about to complain about injustice or express her grievances. To his surprise, her expression didn’t change at all.
“Excuse me, please move aside.”
Gu Jie looked back and realized the coachman hadn’t parked the carriage properly, blocking the alley entrance. His face flushed with embarrassment, and he quickly signaled the coachman to move to the side.
Afterward, seeing that Xue Sui didn’t say a word to him and walked straight past, he felt inexplicably agitated.
“Xue Liu, what exactly happened to Ying’er?”
“Why did Master Xue punish her?”
“Was it your fault? You must have caused trouble again!”
No one answered.
Xue Sui ignored him.
Gu Jie raised his voice, “Xue Liu!”
Xue Sui hadn’t gotten angry yet, but Xiao Zhao was already impatient.
“Miss…”
Before she could utter the words “kill him,” Ru Yi’s spitting sound cut her off.
Ru Yi stood in front of Xue Sui, spitting venomously, words pouring out like a torrent.
“Fifth Master Gu, don’t blame us servants for being gossipy and speaking without thinking. If you’re happy to treasure a rotten stone from a latrine, no one can stop you. If you like eating excrement, that’s your own peculiar taste, and we’ll just stay away because it stinks. But you, shamelessly, insist on approaching our young lady…”
“Tsk, tsk, look at you, aren’t you ashamed? Marrying a woman who had an illicit affair with a man without any formal status and is pregnant out of wedlock, as if you’ve married a celestial being. Aren’t you ashamed? I think the girls in the brothels of Shangjing are more respectable than her…”
“You are magnanimous, so please don’t hold this against me. However, in the future, please don’t say such embarrassing things in front of our young lady, lest it dirty her ears and require several buckets of clean water!”
Gu Jie, a scholar who had entered officialdom, had never been insulted like this before.
He was stunned and speechless for a long time.
When he came to his senses, the three of them had already gracefully departed…
He gritted his teeth, got into the carriage, and as soon as he drove out of the alley and onto the main street, thinking about Xue Yueying’s predicament, someone on horseback approached from a distance.
The newcomer was dressed as an attendant of the Eastern Palace, holding his horse steady, whip in hand, and shouting:
“Who is blocking the road ahead? Hurry up and take your people and your carriage, and get out of the way!”
The coachman from Marquis Jingyuan’s Mansion looked back at Gu Jie and cupped his hands respectfully, “Officer, this road is wide enough…”
“Stop your nonsense!” the newcomer reprimanded, “My horse is big, I can’t get through!”
His horse is big! This was clearly looking for trouble.
The servant muttered to Gu Jie in a low voice, “This road is quite wide. How could it block the Eastern Palace’s horse? This is too overbearing.”
Gu Jie’s face was extremely grim. However, Li Zhao was usually such an unreasonable person, and even the lackeys of the Eastern Palace were increasingly arrogant. The rider was asking the driver to yield?
What an outrage!
Gu Jie’s face flushed, “Forget it. We’ll yield!”
Guan Ya waited for Gu Jie’s carriage to move to the side and stop before he rode his horse through the street, then circled back to report.
“Sir, everything was done as you instructed. That brat didn’t dare to say a word!”
Inside the carriage, Li Zhao adjusted his clothes and said faintly, “Let’s go back.”
When Xue Sui came out, she also saw Li Zhao’s carriage.
Although that carriage was not as luxurious and ostentatious as the Crown Prince’s imperial carriage, she had investigated Li Zhao’s background extensively before and recognized it at a glance.
The carriage was parked on the wet stone-paved road. The air after the rain seemed to be covered in a thin mist, with water vapor swirling. Water droplets were still dripping from the eaves of the houses along the street…
Xue Sui lowered her head and walked past quickly.
A corner of the carriage curtain was lifted, and a faint, warm fragrance drifted out.
Inside the carriage, a person could be vaguely seen. Her dark hair was like ink, casually tied up with a single white jade hairpin. The simple styling added to her languid and casual demeanor, but her sharply defined jaw was slightly tensed, and her dark eyes were sharp. A mere glance from them sent a bone-chilling coldness.
Xue Sui’s heart sank slightly. Upon reaching the private room on the second floor of Misty Rain Tower where Yaoguang was waiting, her first words were:
“Li Zhao wants to kill me.”
As the strong liquor went down her throat, Yaoguang asked with a smile, “Could it be that he’s tired of rich food and wants to try something different, like our simple stir-fried vegetables?”
Xue Sui paused before she understood.
This unreliable Senior Brother!
Xue Sui said, “He’s targeting me. I can feel his wariness, and also, the killing intent emanating from him!”
Li Zhao: Lai Fu, come here and sniff, what scent am I wearing?
Lai Fu sniffed around: Your Highness, you smell wonderful!
Li Zhao: Get lost!
Lai Fu: Indeed, there’s killing intent!
