“Reporting to Your Highness, Qiao Yun from inside the palace has sent word out.” Lü Cai, commander of the shadow guards, slipped quietly into the study and respectfully presented a slender bamboo tube.
The Crown Grandson’s expression shifted slightly, and he quickly took the bamboo tube.
Ever since Qiao Yun had come to serve at Ling Jingshu’s side, she sent a report back every three days. Before Ling Jingshu had entered the palace, the news relayed back had all been trivial, inconsequential matters. But once she entered Jiaofang Palace, the information she gathered through careful inquiry became far more detailed and useful.
Of course, none of this was the most important reason.
Under his command were countless eyes and ears, informants planted everywhere, and the reports that came in every day numbered, if not in the hundreds, then certainly in the dozens. Lü Cai, as commander of the shadow guards, would review them all first and select only the most critical to present.
Yet the reports Qiao Yun sent back required no review from Lü Cai at all—they were delivered straight to him.
It had to be said, Qiao Yun was a clever girl, skilled at reading her master’s intentions. In every report she sent back, she would slip in a line or two of “irrelevant” remarks.
And those one or two lines were always about Ling Jingshu.
How carefully and cautiously she lived within the palace. How she maneuvered with great effort around Empress Xu. How she kept up a surface harmony with the female officials while feeling none of it inside. How she had spent months toiling over the flower-viewing banquet, cultivating a dazzling new variety of peony…
Every time he read these lines, her every smile and frown would rise up in his mind, as though he had drawn a little closer to her again.
He knew full well that such behavior was not normal, that it would only pull him in deeper and make it utterly impossible to forget Ling Jingshu. And yet he could not help himself…
The Crown Grandson held the bamboo tube, a bitter, self-mocking smile rising at the corners of his mouth.
Because of him, Ling Jingshu had been caught in a storm of rumors. It was not until a fresh scandal broke out from Wei Jieyu’s quarters that this wave of gossip had finally begun to die down.
Qiao Yun was hardly the only informant he had planted in the palace. As for how the rumors about Wei Jieyu’s quarters had come about, how could he possibly not know?
This Wei Yan—with just that single move, he had outdone him!
Lü Cai stood off to the side, watching as the Crown Grandson frowned one moment, sighed softly the next, then fell into silent contemplation while staring at the bamboo tube—he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly at the sight.
That even someone like the Crown Grandson, the favored son of heaven itself, could still be ensnared by matters of the heart.
The Crown Grandson remained silent for a moment before finally breaking open the bamboo tube.
He had assumed it would be nothing more than an ordinary report. But after a casual glance, the Crown Grandson’s expression turned grave at once, and he read over the contents of the paper scroll carefully, several times. Then he lit the scroll with a fire striker and burned it to ash.
“Lü Cai!” the Crown Grandson said in a low voice. “From today, assign more men to keep close watch on Princess Changping, and on Prince Consort Xu’s side as well. Do not let any unusual movement slip past.”
Lü Cai immediately agreed.
The Crown Grandson thought it over, then lowered his voice further: “Act carefully and in secret. Under no circumstances let Princess Changping notice anything is amiss.”
Lü Cai answered solemnly, “Yes.”
There came a light knock at the study door.
The Crown Grandson frowned slightly and called out, “Who is it?”
A clear, pleasant woman’s voice rang out from outside the door: “Your Highness, it’s me.”
It was Jiang Rongyue’s voice.
Though the Crown Grandson did not smile, his expression eased considerably, and he told Lü Cai to open the door. The door opened, and Jiang Rongyue, dressed in a green gown, walked in with a beaming smile.
The familiar pale green, the slender figure—it bore quite a resemblance to the beauty in his mind.
For an instant, the Crown Grandson’s expression went distant, and only when he saw Jiang Rongyue’s sweet, charming smile did he come back to himself: “Rongyue, what brings you here?”
Jiang Rongyue did not miss that fleeting moment of distraction in the Crown Grandson’s eyes, and her heart suddenly ached.
He surely had no idea that every time she deliberately wore a pale green gown, the way he looked at her grew just a little softer. And that she had to resort to such a method just to catch her husband’s attention and win his favor—it really was pitiful, something to sigh over.
“Your Highness, I came to discuss something important with you.”
Jiang Rongyue pushed down her tangled thoughts and spoke as cheerfully as ever: “In just a few days, it will be Elder Sister Su’s wedding day. Mother has already prepared a dowry gift. But I was thinking—since Your Highness and Elder Sister Su grew up together since childhood, and you’re true first cousins, your bond is different from others. Why not prepare a separate dowry gift as well, to show how much weight Your Highness places on the relationship?”
Su Ying’s marriage had been settled before the year’s end. Her husband-to-be was the legitimate son of the Minister of Personnel, a man of considerable reputation and talent in the capital. It was, by any measure, a fitting and excellent match.
So this was what she had come for.
The Crown Grandson nodded approvingly. “You’ve thought this through well. Let’s go with your suggestion and prepare a separate gift to send over.”
Seeing the Crown Grandson voice his approval, Jiang Rongyue felt great joy in her heart.
The two of them had been married for over a month now. Sweetness and deep affection were, by any measure, not something one could claim between them—at most, they treated each other with mutual respect, like polite strangers. They were husband and wife who shared the same bed, who should by all rights have been the most intimate people in each other’s lives, and yet, sadly, she could never truly draw close to his heart.
Even his occasional kindness or smile was enough to make her happy for a long while afterward.
“What does Your Highness think we should prepare as a gift?” Jiang Rongyue asked with a smile, moving naturally closer to the Crown Grandson’s side.
The Crown Grandson answered casually, “Use your own judgment. I trust your taste.”
That short sentence was, without question, an enormous source of encouragement and comfort to Jiang Rongyue.
Jiang Rongyue’s lips curved up, her smile especially sweet and charming: “Good, then I’ll take on this task. In a couple of days, when Your Highness has some free time, come with me to the Su residence! Since our wedding, we’ve only visited the Su residence once. If I had to go alone, I’d honestly feel a bit nervous about it!”
The Su family was the Crown Grandson’s maternal grandmother’s family, and the bond between them was naturally far closer than with most others.
The Crown Grandson hesitated only briefly before agreeing.
A wave of happiness rose in Jiang Rongyue’s heart.
Delivering the gift was only one part of it—what mattered more was that this would give her half a day alone with him.
It was only after their marriage that she learned just how busy the Crown Grandson truly was. Even getting a glimpse of him was difficult, let alone any time alone together. And they were newlyweds!
Jiang Rongyue’s gaze fell on the bamboo tube on the table, and curiosity stirred in her: “Your Highness, what is this? Is it used for sending messages?”
The Crown Grandson frowned slightly and gave a flat hum in response.
Jiang Rongyue, not noticing the sudden chill in the Crown Grandson’s manner, pressed on eagerly: “And why is there burnt paper ash here too? What kind of important news needs to be burned right after it’s read?”
The Crown Grandson’s voice turned cold: “This is confidential. Don’t ask any further.”
That icy tone was like a basin of cold water, dousing every bit of Jiang Rongyue’s enthusiasm.
Jiang Rongyue’s smile froze, and she apologized with some embarrassment: “I’m sorry, I won’t ask again.” Then she added in a low voice, “I won’t disturb Your Highness any further. I’ll take my leave now.”
With that, she turned and left, hurried and dejected.