The two rose again and bowed in gratitude toward the main seats where Prince Yan and his consort sat.
Even the mask couldn’t hide the frosty coldness on Li Huan’s face, while Xiao Yunru smiled as she bestowed a jade ruyi upon Qun Qing.
Qun Qing wasn’t familiar with the Great Chen wedding ceremony procedures, so she secretly observed what Lu Huating did and followed his lead.
Fortunately, as the bride, she didn’t need to move about. Through her fan, Qun Qing watched Lu Huating’s profile as he went from table to table offering toasts—his etiquette was impeccable, his responses flowing smoothly. She thought to herself that this person was indeed skilled at pretense; outsiders couldn’t tell at all that this marriage was merely an expedient measure.
The wedding began at noon and didn’t end until the sky had darkened. Even though Qun Qing was in excellent health, her mind wandered several times. When the young eunuch drew out his voice calling “Send them to the bridal chamber,” Qun Qing actually felt relieved.
Two palace maids pushed open the hall doors, finally shutting out the clamor behind them.
The bridal chamber was filled with high and low wedding candles. Qun Qing surveyed her surroundings and saw hanging curtains that divided the enormous side hall into several sections.
For their particular situation, having some separation was indeed more convenient.
With no outsiders present, Lu Huating had already removed the silk flowers from his person and tossed them onto the table. Qun Qing watched as he brushed aside the peanuts and fruits scattered on the bed and leaned back against the headboard to rest.
A red silk banner hung down from the bed canopy, brushing against his face and making his complexion appear even paler. He grasped it with his hand and yanked it down in one motion. After a moment’s pause, he slowly began to unfasten his ceremonial robes.
By the dim candlelight, Qun Qing suddenly caught sight of cold sweat gleaming on his forehead, followed by the spreading bloodstains on his shoulder.
The smell of blood mixed with the dampness of rain. Qun Qing paused slightly—she hadn’t misheard after all! There really had been a hidden weapon shot at them, and it had struck him.
Lu Huating drew out a dagger, heated it over the flame, and with a crisp sound, an extremely short and sharp three-edged sleeve arrow fell into the pool of blood on the floor.
Qun Qing said, “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
Wasn’t Prince Yan’s mansion extremely sensitive about spies?
Lu Huating raised his lashes to look at her. In the candlelight, those magnificent eyes held a mocking expression. “My dear wife, if I had been injured during the wedding ceremony, do you know what people would say?”
“What would they say?”
“That you bring misfortune to your husband.”
“So what if they did?” Qun Qing paused for a moment, then seeing him clutch that section of red silk, she took out a handkerchief from her bosom, pressed it where the blood flowed, then drew the red silk from his hand and wrapped it around the wound. “Let me do it.”
Lu Huating didn’t refuse, leaning back against the headboard and allowing her to approach. “Having such a reputation—wouldn’t that affect my wife’s remarriage prospects?”
Qun Qing stared at his face for a moment. When he looked up at someone, he had an extremely focused expression. How strange—she clearly knew it was dangerous, yet she could always feel her heart race. Perhaps it was the searing candlelight; sweat formed on her forehead as well. She straightened up and removed her hair ornaments and ceremonial robes, tossing them aside.
Lu Huating had just moved when, unexpectedly, Qun Qing’s ice-cold fingers touched his wrist to check his pulse, so he stopped moving. Qun Qing glanced at the fine arrow on the floor. “The arrow is poisoned. I’m concerned it might affect tomorrow morning’s audience with His Majesty to express gratitude. Where is the kitchen? I’ll go boil some bletilla soup to stop the bleeding.”
Lu Huating murmured his assent. Qun Qing then turned to leave, but after taking two steps, remembering this was Prince Yan’s mansion, she went to remove the fish tally from Lu Huating’s waist. He suddenly grasped her wrist. “The kitchen is on the left side—don’t go the wrong way, my wife.”
Only then did he remove the fish tally and give it to her.
The moment Qun Qing left, Lu Huating pushed open the window. Zhu Su stood outside and received the blood-stained sleeve arrow in shock, examining it. “This is His Highness the Crown Prince’s defensive weapon. What does this mean?”
What was there not to understand?
A cold smile crept across Lu Huating’s lips. Wasn’t it simply that he didn’t want them to consummate the marriage tonight?
He leaned out slightly and could see in the distance two palace maids carrying lanterns, leading Qun Qing toward the kitchen. He instructed Zhu Su, “Follow her.”
—
Prince Yan’s mansion’s kitchen was similar in scale to the kitchens in the various palace halls, with an herb cabinet. Opening it, she found all the common medicinal herbs readily available.
Qun Qing grabbed some blood-stopping herbs and tossed them into the boiling clay pot. As she watched the boiling pot, she felt that just standing there was somewhat wasteful of her time.
Through the kitchen’s wooden window, she could see Li Huan’s bedroom office.
Though it was already late at night, the bedroom was still lit. Prince Yan had been involved with governmental affairs for a short time and wasn’t as skilled as the Crown Prince, so he firmly believed in diligence compensating for lack of talent and often handled political matters until midnight.
Lightning flashed and muffled thunder rolled down—it was about to rain. When Zhu Su came over to inquire, the two maids guarding the kitchen entered in great alarm: the soup pot was still boiling on the fire, the fan lay on the table, but Qun Qing had vanished into thin air—yet they hadn’t seen her leave through the front door at all.
Inside the hall, Li Huan was angry at a memorial. “This Liu Sijun constantly reports that Nan Chu is harassing Yunzhou, and now there’s flooding again. It’s always some new scheme to demand money from the palace. Setting aside whether this flood is real or fake, who knows whose pocket the money allocated to him ends up in? If I hadn’t sent Zhang Qiru to investigate secretly, I wouldn’t have known about this intrigue.”
Behind the antique shelf, Qun Qing leaned in the shadows, listening to the sounds in the room, deep in thought.
The memorial on the table about Liu Sijun’s embezzlement must be the one Li Xuan had told her to take. By the looks of it, Li Huan would soon memorialize about this matter.
She looked again and saw Li Huan helping Xiao Yunru, who had been grinding ink, to sit down. “Cuiyu said your feet are swollen. Why are you still standing?”
“It’s fine.” Xiao Yunru said, then spoke up. “This consort wishes to go to Yunzhou with Your Highness.”
Li Huan said, “You’re with child. How can you travel so far?”
“This consort has her own thoughts.” Xiao Yunru said softly. “Although Your Highness has now achieved remarkable military merit, when it comes to measures benefiting the people’s livelihood, you still don’t compare to the Eastern Palace. Your Highness previously left behind a bad reputation for trampling on the common people. Now that Yunzhou has suffered disaster, if you could go to provide relief, it would be precisely the opportunity for Your Highness to dispel misunderstandings.”
Just then, thunder crashed loudly and torrential rain poured down. Wind blew through the unclosed window, suddenly extinguishing two of the lamps, plunging the room into darkness. Xiao Yunru gasped in alarm. Li Huan shielded her, comforting her while ordering someone to light the lamps.
Palace maids entered and fumblingly relit the lamps, and the chaos finally subsided.
Li Huan stared at the candlelight for a moment, then suddenly slammed the table in fury. “Someone came in! What were you all doing?!”
In the brief moment when the room had gone dark, the memorials on the desk had already been rifled through.
The hidden guards around Prince Yan’s mansion immediately released a volley of arrows, the sound of rain mingling with the clashing of weapons. Zhu Su reported from outside, head bowed, not daring to meet Li Huan’s pressing gaze. “Your Highness… we’ve already captured them!”
Qun Qing had already climbed out the window and slipped back to the kitchen. Her shoulders were soaked by the rain. She shook out her outer garment and draped it over herself, concealing the spreading bloodstains on her body, then carried the bowl back to the hall.
Lu Huating was reclining on the couch. He heard rustling sounds near his ear, and accompanying this movement, the smell of blood mixed with the dampness of rain water.
He rose and drained the bletilla soup in one gulp, then walked to the hanging curtain. The curtain faintly revealed Qun Qing’s silhouette.
Qun Qing sat on the floor. The hidden guards had released arrows too quickly earlier; she couldn’t dodge in time and had taken an arrow in the arm. The barbed arrows of Prince Yan’s mansion were extremely painful to remove.
She bit down on her silk shawl and bound her shoulder tightly, pulling up her sleeve to bandage herself.
Lu Huating used his index finger to lift the curtain. Qun Qing grabbed the curtain and pulled it down. When Lu Huating lifted the curtain again, Qun Qing had already swiftly dressed herself properly and looked up at him. “What are you trying to do?”
Lu Huating said, “The smell of my wife’s blood keeps me from sleeping.”
Because his sharp gaze made her feel guilty, Qun Qing looked away.
Lu Huating’s gaze followed along her profile to her neck.
Qun Qing’s thin ru skirt was soaked with rainwater and cold sweat mixed with fresh blood. A layer of cold sweat had condensed on her skin, and her breathing rose and fell from the pain. She was utterly disheveled, yet for some reason he couldn’t look away, only watching quietly.
A snake demon taking human form must be like this moment.
Outside, thunder and rain raged. Knocking sounds came at the door. Lu Huating turned to open it, blocking the furious Li Huan outside and leaving only a crack. “Third Brother, disturbing us on our wedding night—isn’t that going too far?”
“Do you know what’s missing? The memorial I worked so hard to gather evidence for is gone.” Li Huan saw that he had indeed removed his ceremonial robes. In shock and anger, he peered into the inner chamber several times but couldn’t see anything. He could only swallow this bitter pill and leave resentfully.
Lu Huating returned and lifted the curtain to look at Qun Qing. His left hand pinched her shoulder wound while his right hand explored her sleeve and drew out the hidden memorial. Just as he was about to examine it, in a flash, Qun Qing twisted her wrist and snatched it away. In the struggle, she threw it far away, tossing the memorial into the brazier.
Lu Huating turned his eyes. Qun Qing saw the coldness on his face but, weakened by pain, slumped against the pillar and breathed a sigh of relief.
She finally had an explanation for Li Xuan.
“That was evidence of embezzlement. Even to protect the Eastern Palace, isn’t this somewhat unscrupulous?” Lu Huating crouched down, staring at her coldly.
Qun Qing opened her eyes to meet his gaze. “You knew full well I would lose my official position, yet you married me for self-preservation. Isn’t that equally unscrupulous? I’m not protecting the Eastern Palace—I’m protecting myself.”
“My wife was originally a Nan Chu spy. Do you truly wish to rise through the ranks in Great Chen?”
“Not only do I want to rise, I want to reach the third rank as soon as possible.” Qun Qing sat on the floor. “If I can become a Crimson-Robed Censor, when I’m later sent as an envoy to Nan Chu, I can use the opportunity of hostage exchanges to rescue my mother.”
Lu Huating heard this, paused for a moment, and looked at her features. “Your mother is in Nan Chu? Who told you this?”
“Whether you believe it or not—if you want the antidote to the Yearning引, besides helping me, tell me, Chief Clerk, what other options do you have?”
At this, Lu Huating looked at her, actually speechless.
“As for the flood matter, you and I both know it’s real.” Qun Qing looked toward the window.
As the two fell silent, they could hear the pattering rain outside the window.
In the previous life, during the second year of the Sheng Lin era, it had been a year of abundant rainfall. Both Yunzhou and Wanzhou suffered floods, and because the Yunzhou Prefect embezzled relief funds, disaster relief came too late, causing large numbers of common people to be displaced.
Lu Huating had pushed through heavy opposition to imprison Prefect Liu, but that was a story for later.
Qun Qing said, “The Princess Consort is right—distant water cannot quench an immediate thirst. Rather than attacking each other before His Majesty, why don’t you and Prince Yan go there in person? First, to save the common people; second, to gather evidence personally—wouldn’t that carry more weight than a single memorial?”
Third, if they went far away, it would be more convenient for her to operate within the palace.
Just as she thought this, she heard Lu Huating smile slightly. “My wife wants me to leave, preferably never to return.”
A moment later, he drew from his sleeve a half-dead skylark and placed it on Qun Qing’s skirt.
Seeing that the skylark she used to communicate with Nan Chu had been caught by him, Qun Qing couldn’t help but feel shock and anger. Fortunately, the skylark wasn’t dead. After she pinched it a couple of times, it came back to life, fluttering its wings and burrowing into her sleeve.
With things made clear, he wouldn’t interfere with her communications with Nan Chu anymore.
“Third Brother doesn’t trust you. He’ll still test you tomorrow. My wife should know how to cooperate so as not to expose ourselves.” Lu Huating said.
Test what? Test whether their feelings were genuinely deep?
“Wait.” Qun Qing was about to rise when she saw him take out a gold bracelet and wipe it clean with his sleeve. The brilliant light of the gold bracelet reflected on his focused features.
Through his sleeve, he grasped her hand and slipped the bracelet on. It was neither too large nor too small—the size was just right.
Qun Qing had heard that among common folk marriages, there was a custom of giving gold. Presumably this was to reduce others’ suspicions, so she didn’t refuse and let the cool gold ornament rest against her wrist.
Lu Huating looked at it for a moment, thinking something unknown, seemingly very satisfied. “Rest early. My wife will sleep on the bed; I’ll sleep on the floor.”