Ever since Xiao Jin entered the secret room, Ye Suyu had been waiting outside in the courtyard.
Although she was worried about Xiao Jin being alone inside, Shen Lan had him tied up, so she didn’t think anything could go wrong.
After waiting for half an hour and with the sky growing darker, Ye Suyu became anxious and decided to investigate.
She got up from the stone steps, feeling the silver whip at her waist, and was about to enter the room when she saw Yin Zhu pushing Xiao Jin out.
Ye Suyu hurried over, signaled to Yin Zhu with her eyes, and took over the wheelchair to push Xiao Jin out.
It wasn’t until they were out of the heavily guarded courtyard that Ye Suyu lowered her voice and asked, “Did her highness find out anything?”
There was silence for a moment before Xiao Jin replied.
Ye Suyu noticed that her complexion didn’t look good under the moonlight.
She slowed down the wheelchair and said, “If her highness didn’t find out, we can still keep him here and try again another day.”
Xiao Jin shook her head. “I did find out.”
Ye Suyu smiled. “I thought so too. With the soul incense burning in the furnace and Shen Lan not being a resolute person, he would eventually reveal something.”
“Burning the soul incense is not difficult,” Xiao Jin said, looking down at the shallow purple flower in his palm. “The key is to make Shen Lan unaware and to quietly put the soul incense into the secret room.”
Ye Suyu pushed the wheelchair and praised Yin Zhu. “Yin Zhu is careful and has lived up to her highness’s trust.”
The small flower in Xiao Jin’s hand lost its moisture and gradually withered. She let it go and placed it between her clothes, looking ahead without much interest in talking.
They walked in silence until they were almost at their residence when Xiao Jin suddenly mentioned a topic. “You weren’t back yet during the Lantern Festival this year.”
Ye Suyu didn’t know why Xiao Jin was asking this, but she still answered, “Yes, I was in Yan Province at that time.”
Xiao Jin remembered that on the day of the Lantern Festival, she had traveled to Qingzhou with the Governor Xu.
They had drunk some plum wine and leaned on the bridge made of white stones, watching the lanterns floating down the river.
She had forgotten most of the scenery from that time, but she remembered when the fireworks bloomed, everyone looked up at the fireworks in the sky, except for the person beside her, who smiled but didn’t seem to be smiling.
The lanterns floated along the riverbank, and the changing light and shadow stained Chu Shao’s sleeves red.
Countless worldly desires and noise passed her by, only fluttering the corners of her clothes, without changing anything or taking anything away.
Only the green waves still flowed to the east.
She looked at Chu Shao standing by the bridge and her expression, and suddenly felt that maybe this person had already been accustomed to everything in the world, which was why she could live as she pleased but was also more lonely.
Now recalling all of this, after the questioning just now, Xiao Jin learned that many years ago on the same day, Chu Shao had taken a dagger and killed Rong Lian with her own hands.
When listening to Shen Lan describe this, Xiao Jin’s expression seemed calm, but she was actually a little shocked.
After all, she was a good young person in modern society. Even if she was daring and arrogant, she was fundamentally a modern person.
She was not unfamiliar with this kind of Chu Shao before, but now, she couldn’t help feeling a little confused because the Chu Shao she saw now was no longer like that.
Xiao Jin rubbed her forehead and forced herself not to think about it anymore.
Then she said to Ye Suyu, “You weren’t in Qingzhou at the time, so naturally, you didn’t know that I did something wrong.”
Ye Suyu was surprised, “Your Highness always thinks she is right, so how could she make a mistake?”
Xiao Jin was speechless and sighed, “No, you don’t understand.”
“That day was not only the anniversary of the Princess’s mother, but the Princess also never liked lively events. However, I had ordered someone to send a boatload of lanterns to be hung in the courtyard, which was a big mistake.”
After saying this, Xiao Jin paused and suddenly realized a problem: upon hearing Shen Lan’s words, her first reaction was not to fear this kind of Chu Shao but to regret bringing in a boatload of lanterns that day?
Xiao Jin deeply felt that she might be going crazy.
Ye Suyu did not understand Xiao Jin’s meaning, she only saw that Xiao Jin looked complicated and smiled, “Your Highness, so you were troubled by this matter, if so, then you really worry too much.”
What was she worrying too much about?
Xiao Jin found that she could no longer understand her subordinates’ speech.
She couldn’t help but raise her head and ask Ye Suyu, “What am I worrying too much about? What do you know?”
Ye Suyu looked puzzled, “Your Highness, I really can’t figure you out anymore.”
Xiao Jin fell silent.
Who was the one who couldn’t understand whom?
Ye Suyu continued, “Your Highness, if you are worried about the Lantern Festival incident, it’s really unnecessary. After all, the Princess treats you very well and likes you very much. She naturally wouldn’t care about such a small matter.”
Xiao Jin didn’t believe it, “How do you know that?”
“Your subordinate can tell. After all, when the Princess heard that you hadn’t had dinner yet, she wanted to interrogate Shen Lan, so she personally cooked some supper and is now waiting for you in your courtyard.”
Xiao Jin was stunned.
Chu Shao…cooking supper for her personally?
She didn’t even know that someone like Chu Shao, a big female boss, could cook.
Ye Suyu smiled, “If you feel remorseful and want to apologize to the Princess, now is the best time, isn’t it?”
Xiao Jin fell silent for a long time. After a while, she said, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Ye Suyu was puzzled and asked, “Your Highness, you didn’t ask earlier.”
Forget it.
Xiao Jin didn’t want to talk to Ye Suyu anymore.
She put the little flower into her pocket and looked at Ye Suyu, “Push me in, and when I’m inside, leave quickly.”
…
Inside the small courtyard.
The night was as thick as ink, and the birds on the branches called a few times before resting.
Chu Shao propped her chin with her hand and looked up at Ye Suyu’s quickly retreating figure.
Then she looked at Xiao Jin sitting next to her, with a smile in her eyes.
“Miss Ye doesn’t look good. She’s in such a hurry now, afraid that she has offended someone and is not happy,” said Chu Shao.
Xiao Jin sat on the stone bench, drinking tea without looking up. “Because I just told her to leave quickly,” she said.
“Oh, why is that? Did Miss Ye do something wrong and upset you?” Chu Shao raised an eyebrow slightly.
“No, I just feel that if both of us stay with Ye Suyu, only one of us will be able to survive,” Xiao Jin replied.
Chu Shao was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, realizing that Xiao Jin was joking with her.
The two of them chatted casually for a while.
While talking, Chu Shao got up and took out a bowl of clear porridge and a cup of mung bean ice with rock sugar from the food box.
With a few steamed fat crabs, the whole table of dishes was very delicious.
The servant entered the courtyard, lifted the crab shells for the two of them, cracked the pincers, and took out the plump and tender white meat from the crab legs.
Chu Shao picked up the silver chopsticks, picked up the jade-like crab roe, and put it in Xiao Jin’s plate, lightly saying, “You should eat it while it’s hot. It won’t be fresh when it’s cold.”
Looking at this scene, Xiao Jin felt the benefits of feudalism.
However, if this continued, even if she didn’t become physically disabled, she would probably be mentally handicapped in time.
Xiao Jin felt this emotion in her heart, but her movements were very honest and did not stop for a moment.
After all, who doesn’t want to be turned into a waste by the feudal dynasty?
After thanking Chu Shao, Xiao Jin began to taste the food.
Unfortunately, no matter what kind of night snack Chu Shao cooked, it was the same for Xiao Jin.
She was not the real Prince Yan and naturally could not taste the difference between the river crabs offered by Yunqin and ordinary crabs.
Drinking the cold mung bean ice with rock sugar, she felt the summer heat dissipate a bit.
Xiao Jin ate cold food and drank a glass of osmanthus wine, but did not feel that these things were hard on the stomach. On the contrary, her body was filled with warmth.
It was warmer than snuggling up to a stove and eating steaming hot dishes.
In fact, on her way back to her room, Xiao Jin was originally very hungry, but the night wind made her feel restless, and she forgot that she was hungry.
Xiao Jin didn’t know she was hungry, but someone remembered that she was hungry and set up a table of dishes, waiting quietly in the courtyard.
Such a thing should not have happened.
Even if it did, it should not have appeared in this world, let alone happened here.
Now that it had, Xiao Jin’s heart felt a little sour. At the same time, she also felt a warmth of being loved.
Thinking of these things, Xiao Jin couldn’t really taste the flavor of the dishes in her mouth.
With gratitude and joy in her heart, the movement of picking up food slowed down.
Chu Shao had already finished her meal and was now sitting on a stone stool watching Xiao Jin eat. The shadows of the trees under the moonlight swayed, and Xiao Jin’s face was covered by shadows, sometimes bright, sometimes dark.
Occasionally, a flower or a leaf would fly over and fall on the person’s hair in front of her.
Chu Shao propped her chin and smiled slightly, not reaching out to brush it away because she felt it was a very beautiful scene.
Of course, even if the moon was not full, the east wind did not come, and no flowers fell from the trees, it was good enough to just sit there.
Actually, Xiao Jin was not particularly special, but Chu Shao suddenly felt that living in this world, having this person standing in front of her, being looked at by her occasionally and having a few casual conversations, seemed pretty good.
It was enough.
Seeing that Xiao Jin’s eating speed slowed down, Chu Shao felt a little unsatisfied and frowned, asking, “These are a few dishes made by this Princess. Do they not suit your taste?”
“No,” Xiao Jin answered quickly.
However, Chu Shao still frowned.
Xiao Jin had to put away her thoughts and say to Chu Shao, “The night snacks made by the princess are delicious. This prince is just a little homesick.”
After all, she usually ate night snacks in modern times.
More precisely, on her phone, through delivery.
Chu Shao was not a modern person, so she did not understand the meaning of it and just said, “After you finish your business, you can return to the capital.”
Xiao Jin did not respond.
It was easy to say, but it was not easy to finish one’s business.
However, tonight was not the night to discuss such helpless things.
Having someone accompany oneself to dinner and chat a few words was already good enough.
There was no need to ask for more.
Xiao Jin put down her chopsticks and talked about another matter, “Today I went to interrogate Shen Lan.”
Chu Shao smiled and seemed not to care, “Did you find out anything?”
“Shen Lan is devoted to Blood Rain Pavilion, so naturally he cannot reveal much. However, he told me a story.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Shao looked at Xiao Jin with a smile that didn’t diminish, “What story?”
Xiao Jin said, “It’s about a concubine and a treacherous minister who brought disaster to the court. Shen Lan told me a lot, but there is one thing that I can’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?” Chu Shao asked.
Xiao Jin looked into Chu Shao’s eyes, “I just don’t understand why the concubine, whose entire family was killed by the treacherous minister, chose to stay in the palace instead of seeking revenge.”
“Such a thing should not be written in the marketplace’s cheap novels,” Chu Shao replied with a gentle smile.
“Perhaps the concubine knew that she couldn’t do it alone,” Chu Shao continued. “When she had the ability to kill the treacherous minister, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.”
Xiao Jin shook her head, indicating that she did not believe it. “There is no reason why she couldn’t do it with such deep hatred,” she said.
After saying this, Xiao Jin suddenly realized that she and Chu Shao were also enemies.
She felt a little strange about asking such a question.
The moonlight flowed, and Chu Shao suddenly smiled, and her silver-plated eyelashes fluttered lightly. “Who knows,” she said.
Xiao Jin coughed slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
She knew she had said too much and was about to end the topic.
But unexpectedly, Chu Shao continued with a smile, “Perhaps that play was fake. Because the Concubine mother once told me that her troubles in life did not actually originate from that one inch of ground.”
Xiao Jin was stunned, not expecting Chu Shao to speak so directly.
Chu Shao looked towards the moon in the sky and said calmly, “There are people who throw away their wealth just to spend the night with their beloved, it’s nothing unusual.”
“Even if that person runs a thousand or ten thousand miles holding a cup of peach blossom soup, it’s still just ordinary.”
Xiao Jin asked, “What touched her then?”
“Perhaps it was a hug, or… a tear.”
Under Xiao Jin’s gaze, Chu Shao smiled lightly.
The moonlight was hazy, even the spoken words seemed to become like a dream.
…
The candlelight flickered in the Jianjia Building.
Nan Jin lay on the bed, after vomiting, she rarely fell into a deep sleep.
It rained at night.
Shen Ronglian came to the window, pulled the curtains, isolated the rain outside, and also the noise of the drinkers below.
Turning back, she found that Nan Jin’s brows were tightly furrowed again, and she began to move around on the bed.
Fortunately, she had already picked up all the fragile things beforehand, otherwise Nan Jin would have destroyed everything.
As the biggest traitor of the Yao Country, Nan Jin was indeed a difficult person to deal with. She was caught trying to touch the cup, and then kicked the bedding and thin blankets under her feet.
Although she was so drunk that she was unconscious, she did not forget to hold Shen Ronglian’s waist, and her mouth did not stop for a moment, always shouting something.
At first, she was shouting for her mother and sister, and at the end, she was shouting for the beautiful woman, for Rong Lian.
Shen Ronian didn’t say anything, she just sat there listening to Nan Jin’s shouting, then took a handkerchief, soaked it in hot water, and covered the forehead of the big traitor, sitting quietly and watching.
When Nan Jin was not awake, a peach blossom forest and a mountain vaguely appeared in Shen Ronglian’s mind.
It seemed that an elder once taught her that the world is not just black and white, good people can do evil, and evil people can do good deeds.
Although Shen Ronglian couldn’t remember many things, she always felt that when the elder told her this, she didn’t understand.
Without understanding evil, she naturally did not understand good.
Shen Ronglian didn’t understand why she would think of these things, but she always felt that she used to be a very stubborn person, just like the sword hanging on the wall.
But Nan Jin was different, she was a strange person, always saying and doing strange things.
Despite having immense wealth and power, she is still a little girl who wakes up crying from nightmares in the middle of the night.
When Nan Jin stands in front of her, Shen Ronglian can’t help feeling disgust in her heart and shows no false politeness.
But when Nan Jin falls asleep, Shen Ronglian looks at the jade pendant with the missing corner and unconsciously reaches out to smooth out the creases between Nan Jin’s eyebrows, touching the vermilion mole on her forehead.
Then Nan Jin wakes up.
She smiles that annoying smile and takes hold of her fingers, starting to play around.
After a while, she begins to cry.
Nan Jin has only shed tears in front of her twice.
Once was when they first met, and Nan Jin had a dream about her deceased mother.
The second time is now.
Shen Ronglian lies in bed, allowing Nan Jin to kiss her lips, cry, and hold her without saying a word.
In her heart, she thinks that the world is not simply black and white.
Out of the many people in Yao Country, who else has seen the National Teacher Nan Jin cry? Who else knows that Nan Jin’s real name is Chu Jin, and her embrace is actually warm?
Shen Ronglian looks through the red veil and gazes at the sword hanging on the wall, vaguely feeling that she doesn’t like that sword anymore.
Until later.
One day, she woke up from the dream.
She realized that Nan Jin could not be Chu Jin.
And she was no longer Shen Ronglian.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Translator’s note: I see! I somehow feel relieved that it was both of their first kiss and sx. I don’t understand why, but I do feel relieved 😌.”
TO BE CONTINUE…
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