In the lady officials’ quarters of the Palace of Purple Dawn.
“Miss,” said Qiao Yun — gaunt now, dressed in plain grey, her eyes red-rimmed — as she sank to her knees. “This servant thought she would never see you again.”
In this moment, it was not entirely performance — it was also Qiao Yun’s genuine feelings showing through.
From the night everything spiraled out of control, Qiao Yun had lost all means of passing messages. The Crown Grandson might be formidable, but he had no proper grounds to reach inside the imperial prison. Qiao Yun had been locked away first together with Bai Yu, and later Bai Yu had been taken away, leaving only Qiao Yun alone in the cell.
However resilient her nature, she was still a girl not yet twenty. These past months, she had worried over Ling Jingshu’s safety and fretted over the Crown Grandson’s reaction in equal measure — it had been a genuinely harrowing ordeal. Now that she was face to face with Ling Jingshu again, she could no longer hold back the surging tide of emotions, and tears quickly brimmed over.
Ling Jingshu felt a deep pang in her own heart, and gently helped Qiao Yun to her feet. “Qiao Yun, you have suffered these past months. You followed me into the palace, and then sat in the imperial prison for two months as well. The three of us are finally together again. Don’t cry anymore — tell me, how have you been getting on?”
Qiao Yun was not given to unnecessary sentiment, and quickly dried her tears. She said quietly, “At first this servant and Bai Yu were held in the same cell. We were both worried about the young miss’s safety and were restless night and day. Later Bai Yu was taken away, and this servant guessed she had been moved to be near the young miss — and felt a good deal more settled after that.”
“The conditions in the prison were indeed sparse, but there was enough to eat. No one came to question or interrogate us — it was just the confinement that was so stifling day after day.”
She paused, then broke into a smile. “This servant had thought there was no knowing how long we might be kept there. I never expected to be freed so quickly. And the young miss has even been given a position as a lady official here in the Palace of Purple Dawn — compared to Rui Lian and the others, you have had far better fortune.”
Ling Jingshu pulled at the corner of her lips with a trace of self-deprecation. “Indeed — my luck is remarkably good. Released from the imperial prison without any reason, and the Emperor even showed special grace in keeping me here in the Palace of Purple Dawn to serve.”
Qiao Yun had been caught up in happiness at first and had not thought deeply about it. Now, hearing Ling Jingshu put it that way, she began to sense something was amiss, and asked hesitantly, “Was it not Wei Jieyu who appealed to the Emperor on the young miss’s behalf?”
Ling Jingshu shook her head silently.
Qiao Yun’s heart lurched, and her expression grew quickly grave. After a long pause she said softly, “If the young miss does not mind, this servant will pass word of this to His Highness the Crown Grandson.”
The face of the Crown Grandson — cold and composed — flashed through Ling Jingshu’s mind. She was still for a moment, then replied, “Very well.”
This was not something that could be concealed from anyone anyway. Within a few days, it would be making the rounds throughout the palace.
Better for the Crown Grandson to learn of it sooner rather than later.
That evening, Qiao Yun’s message arrived in Lu Cai’s hands.
Lu Cai took the bamboo tube and slipped quietly into the study, announcing in a low voice, “Your Highness, a message has come back from Qiao Yun.”
“Oh?” The Crown Grandson, who had been bent over documents, raised his head almost immediately. A faint flash of surprise and pleasure — rare on that expressionless face — showed itself. “Bring it here quickly.”
Lu Cai assented and gently set the bamboo tube on the desk.
The Crown Grandson quickly unsealed the tube and unrolled the thin slip of paper within.
Ling Jingshu had been imprisoned for two full months, and Qiao Yun along with her — all avenues for passing messages had been cut off. Although he had other eyes within the palace, they had no way to reach inside the imperial prison.
For two whole months, not a single word concerning Ling Jingshu had reached him.
Now, as he unrolled the paper, Ling Jingshu’s name stood out prominently. The memory of that face — long unseen — sprang at once to his mind, setting gentle ripples spreading across the calm surface of his heart.
The Crown Grandson was lost in a daze for a moment before he fixed his gaze and began to read. When he saw clearly what was written, his heart sank in a straight, plummeting line.
When he had read the letter through, the smile on his face was gone without a trace, and the hand holding the letter trembled ever so slightly.
How had it come to this?
His imperial grandfather was already of advanced age — how could he have conceived of such thoughts?
What was he to do?
Stand by and watch Ling Jingshu fall into a pit of fire? He could not do it. Yet to rescue someone from his imperial grandfather’s grasp — was that so easily done? If he provoked his imperial grandfather’s wariness and suspicion, would he not only be handing Prince Yan an effortless advantage?
The Crown Grandson’s hands began to tremble. The expression on his face shifted and churned, his eyes filled with conflict and anguish.
That thin slip of paper seemed suddenly to weigh more than a thousand catties.
Lu Cai quietly watched from the side, secretly astonished.
After reading the letter, His Highness wore an expression of complex and evident pain. What on earth was written in this letter?
Just at that moment, a knock sounded at the study door.
An attendant entered and announced, “Your Highness, the Crown Princess has sent word inviting Your Highness and the Crown Grandson’s Consort to join her for the evening meal.”
The Crown Grandson steadied himself and said in a deep voice, “Understood.”
He did not burn the letter as he usually would. Instead, he folded it with care and tucked it into the hidden pocket in his sleeve.
When the Crown Grandson emerged from the study, Jiang Rongyue was already standing outside with a smile, waiting.
She wore a sweet smile on her lips, and bent slightly to pay her respects. “Greetings, Your Highness.”
The Crown Grandson pressed down the turmoil in his heart for the moment and said gently, “Have I not told you before? You are with child now — rest easy and take care of yourself. There is no need to observe these formalities.”
Such gentleness was a rarely seen tenderness from the Crown Grandson.
Jiang Rongyue’s face flushed pink and she murmured her assent, feeling a sweetness in her heart.
A month earlier, she had been unable to eat and had lost her appetite, and her monthly cycle had been some days late. She had sensed something then, and after calling for an imperial physician to take her pulse, it was confirmed to be an auspicious pulse. She was with child.
Conceiving so soon after entering the household had made the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess very happy, and they were thoroughly satisfied with her as a daughter-in-law. Even her husband, who was usually cold and indifferent, had been considerably more attentive to her in recent days than before.
She could be said to have finally arrived at ease after a long period of hardship.
Absorbed in her joy and sweetness, Jiang Rongyue did not notice the faint shadow that lay in the Crown Grandson’s eyes.
Husband and wife dined together at the Crown Princess’s quarters, and then returned to their own courtyard and each attended to their own bathing and changing of clothes.
Jiang Rongyue was in the habit of personally attending to the Crown Grandson’s garments, and tonight was no different. As she sorted and folded his clothing, her fingers chanced upon a soft bulge in the hidden pocket of the sleeve.
She had no idea what was inside the pocket.
Curiosity got the better of her, and she boldly drew the paper from the hidden pocket and opened it to read a few lines.
One look was enough to drain the color from Jiang Rongyue’s face. Without thinking, she clutched the letter tightly in her hand.
“What are you doing?” The Crown Grandson, freshly bathed, stood in the doorway. His sharp eyes fell directly on Jiang Rongyue.
Jiang Rongyue startled, and by reflex hid the hand holding the letter behind her back. “Nothing — I was tidying Your Highness’s garments.”
That guilty manner was plain to see on her face — transparent to the Crown Grandson. He needed no further proof.
She had certainly read the letter concealed in his sleeve.