“Then I’ll go make proper arrangements,” Taohua said. “On the Mid-Autumn Festival, you and my lord can go out and enjoy yourselves.”
“Thank you, madam,” Lu Zhilan smiled and nodded. She glanced at Taohua’s expression, then looked at Shen Zaiye behind her, and suddenly said, “It’s not appropriate to keep standing at the doorway. My lord, why don’t you go back to your quarters to rest? I have some things I’d like to discuss with the madam.”
What could they possibly have to discuss? Shen Zaiye frowned, instinctively looking towards Taohua. Jiang Taohua smiled foolishly and nodded at him, “Yes, my lord, please go rest.”
Since they both insisted, he had no choice but to nod and walk past them towards Linwu Court. Halfway there, he looked back to see the two women holding hands, walking amicably towards the nearby garden.
Both Lu Zhilan and Jiang Taohua wore smiles, but the former’s eyes didn’t look particularly friendly. When they were alone, she turned to Taohua and said, “Does madam dislike me very much?”
Slightly startled, Taohua replied, “Why would Lady Lu think that?”
“Before I came to this mansion, weren’t you the one cherished by my lord?” Lu Zhilan smirked. “Since I arrived, it seems he’s been neglecting you.”
“That’s true,” Taohua nodded. “But why should I dislike you? My lord’s neglect is an issue between him and me. Your ability to gain his favor is your merit. If he’s fickle, that’s his fault. In the end, I have no grounds to dislike you.”
Lu Zhilan clicked her tongue, her gaze sweeping over Taohua’s face. “You’re quite open-minded.”
“If you can be so open-minded, how could I dwell on it?” Taohua shrugged. “After all, you knew Shen Zaiye first. I’m just a latecomer.”
Chuckling lightly, Lu Zhilan sat down in the garden pavilion and eyed her. “What does it matter who came first or later? The key is who my lord likes. You may not dislike me, but I’ve never much liked you.”
“Why?” Taohua sat down too, looking at her with interest. “Could it be because I’m good-looking?”
Rolling her eyes, Lu Zhilan snorted, “What’s so great about being beautiful? There are plenty of beauties in this world, and none of them have left much of an impression on Shen Zaiye. But you, you married him by mistake, and somehow caught his eye.”
Taohua raised an eyebrow. Although Lu Zhilan’s words were full of hostility, for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to be antagonistic. She just felt that this girl was rather pitiful.
“I suppose it’s fate,” she said. “But fate has different depths. Lady Lu, the longer you stay in this courtyard, the deeper your fate with my lord might become.”
Lu Zhilan sneered, looking at her seriously. “If time could deepen fate, I wouldn’t have held onto this obsession for so many years. The things I’ve done for Shen Zaiye, if not thousands are at least hundreds. Yet I couldn’t move him even slightly. May I ask, madam, what exactly did you do to sway Shen Zaiye’s heart?”
Pondering for a moment, Jiang Taohua said, “I’m just someone who helps him with his affairs, so I gained his favor and was pulled onto the same boat. As for winning his heart, I might not have that ability. Lady Lu is overthinking. Instead of dwelling on me, why not seize the opportunity to spend more time with my lord?”
“In your opinion, have my recent actions been merely vying for favor?” Lu Zhilan raised an eyebrow.
Isn’t that what it is? Taohua looked at her in surprise. “Does Lady Lu have other plans?”
Laughing softly, Lu Zhilan shook her head. “Madam probably doesn’t understand my feelings. For over a decade, my feelings have never been reciprocated by Shen Zaiye. Now that the former emperor has passed, I’ve become a regicide with nowhere to belong. He took pity on me and brought me into his household. If I don’t make him make up for all the regrets of the past, how can I leave in peace?”
Shocked, Taohua asked with some surprise, “Leave?”
“I have my place to go. I won’t stay by his side for long,” Lu Zhilan tilted her head, eyeing Taohua. “Hearing this, do you suddenly feel happy?”
Jiang Taohua’s expression was complex as she stared at Lu Zhilan’s smiling face for a long time. Confused, she said, “I thought your greatest wish was to stay by Shen Zaiye’s side.”
“Yes, that was my wish before,” Lu Zhilan nodded. “But ever since Mingxuan died, and I’ve seen how he treats you in the mansion, that wish suddenly changed.”
“I want to make both him and you miserable. Once the resentment in my heart dissipates, I can go to Mingxuan with a clean conscience,” Lu Zhilan smiled mischievously, narrowing her eyes at Taohua. “I don’t like you, and I don’t like Shen Zaiye. If you two continue to be so harmonious together, wouldn’t that be heartbreaking for me?”
Chuckling lightly, Taohua said, “So you want to disrupt our relationship?”
“Correct,” Lu Zhilan nodded seriously, her eyes gleaming as she asked, “Are you afraid?”
“To be honest, I can’t bring myself to be afraid,” Taohua shrugged. “If you wanted to do this, why tell me in advance? Now that I see through you, I won’t fall for your tricks.”
“Is that so?” Lu Zhilan rubbed her chin, frowning. “Then I miscalculated. Pretend you didn’t hear that, let’s start over!”
Taohua laughed, looking at her tenderly for a long time before suddenly asking, “Do you regret it?”
“What?”
“Killing Emperor Mingde.”
Lu Zhilan’s expression froze, and she lowered her gaze. “Killing him was something I knew I had to do two years ago. It was my mission and responsibility. I won’t regret it.”
But… she was sad, so sad that she cried in her dreams every night.
If only Mingxuan hadn’t been so kind to her, she wouldn’t feel this guilty. She had never been cherished by anyone before. She had been so good to Shen Zaiye, but that ingrate never even glanced back at her. Yet Mingxuan treasured her like a precious gem, doting on her, afraid she might get even slightly hurt.
And such a person, she had poisoned. He didn’t even have the chance to say a few words before departing for the underworld. If they were to meet again, would he rush up to hit her? Or perhaps he would turn away, never wanting to see her again…
Looking at the person before her, Taohua couldn’t help but offer her a handkerchief.
“What’s this for?” Lu Zhilan came back to her senses, looking at her puzzled.
“Your face,” Taohua sighed. “Wipe it, your makeup is smeared.”
Slightly startled, Lu Zhilan raised her hand to touch her face, only then realizing it was covered in tears.
“Strange, I wasn’t crying,” she murmured, taking the handkerchief to wipe her face. Then, very seriously, she said, “It must be because the wind is too strong here!”
(End of Chapter)