Chapter 10: Let Her Find Out Herself
The moment Yao Mowan left Ordinance Palace, Xie Siyin abruptly knelt down and grabbed the leg of the table. When she lifted her hand off it, she saw that the same kind of powder was sticking to her hands.
“Your Highness, this servant will go find Imperial Physician Zheng right away!” Yue Lan turned to leave, but Xie Siyin called her back.
“Yue Chan! Don’t call for Imperial Physician Zheng. Go to the Prince Residence and get Doctor Li. Clean up those bugs as well and bring them to Doctor Li. Tell him that he must figure out what poisoned those bugs! Be careful when leaving the palace, don’t let anyone see you!” As Xie Siyin spoke, she shook the powder on her hand onto writing paper before folding it up and handing it to Yue Chan.
Xie Siyin endured the sorrow in her bones and used an entire day to consider everything that had happened in the past. Jian Chen had left the Jianghu seven years ago. There was no way he could have any enemies, so why did those people attack him? Why would there be fatal poison in his blood? Why would the table leg have red powder? It was inconceivable, unimaginable! Ye Hongyi, please don’t disappoint Siyin…
That night, in a damaged temple in the east side of the Imperial City.
“How is Siyin? Is she alright?” When Jian Chen saw Yao Mowan walk in, he endured the pain to get up, but the young child next to him pressed him back down.
“Don’t get up. I’m only here to tell you that Xie Siyin is fine. She’s just heartbroken.” When Yao Mowan saw the bandages that were stained with blood wrapped across Jian Chen’s chest, she couldn’t help but feel some lingering fears. If something really had happened to Jian Chen, she would owe Xie Siyin her entire life.
“Why can’t you tell her directly?” Jian Chen furrowed his brows as he looked towards Jing Xin in confusion.
“There are some things that you can only understand the taste of after experiencing it yourself. With how much she trusts Ye Hongyi, even if you had been the one to tell her, she might not have believed it. You should just focus on recovering. Jing Xin promises to return a well and unharmed Xie Siyin to you within a month. At that time, you two can leave for a distant land where you guys can live in the bright and open.” After saying those things, Yao Mowan turned to leave.
Yao Mowan had actually missed Ye Junqing a little after not seeing him for two days, so she was rather happy to finally see him at the table again.
“Two palace maids from the Clothing Department disappeared without a trace. Have you heard about this?” Although Yao Mowan was currently occupied with Xie Siyin’s matter, she always kept an eye on Ye Junqing’s situation. Liu Sha would report to her Ye Junqing’s whereabouts and doings every night, so she knew about everything he did no matter how much he tried to cover his tracks.
“An Bingshan is worse than a beast! This prince really can’t understand why His Majesty would tolerate a person like this who’s even lower than a dog!” Whenever Ye Junqing recalled the horrifying things that An Bingshan had done to those palace maids, he’d be seized with the impulse to go and kill An Bingshan right now.
“So that’s why you knocked An Bingshan out while he was abusing those two palace maids, then sent those maids out of the imperial palace?” There was no way Yao Mowan wasn’t aware of An Bingshan’s vile nature. She still remembered with vivid detail how An Bingshan had handed the poisoned wine to Ye Junqing back in the Esteemed Prince Residence.
However, revenge could not be rushed. There was definitely a reason why Ye Hongyi favored An Bingshan, and she had to find that reason! Her revenge wouldn’t be as simple as taking the person’s life. If that had been the case, Ye Hongyi would’ve already died countless times.
“Since you already know, why are you still asking this prince?” Ye Junqing was peeved.
“An Bingshan is still useful alive, so don’t get involved in his matters anymore.” There was no room for discussion in Yao Mowan’s tone.
“He might be useful to you, but this prince has no use for him! This prince…” Just as Ye Junqing was arguing back, An Bingshan’s unique shrill voice appeared.
“This old servant kowtows in salute to Your Highness Consort Yao and Prince!” An Bingshan walked over to Yao Mowan in a fawning manner while holding a golden box that had all sorts of ornamental jewels on it.
“What’s this? It’s so pretty!” Yao Mowan feigned surprise even though she recognized the box. When Feng Yihan had gifted her that jade hairpin earlier, this was the box he had used.
“Replying Your Highness Consort Yao, this is the return gift that the king of Qi had an envoy deliver. It came with the message that Fluffy’s baby is doing very well so Your Highness doesn’t need to worry.” An Bingshan carefully handed the gold box to Yao Mowan before standing to the side respectfully.
“Who’s the king of Qi?” Yao Mowan looked towards An Bingshan with confusion. As she spoke, she moved in front of Ye Junqing to block the murderous glare he was shooting towards An Bingshan.
“Oh look at me, how could I have forgotten to explain? The crown prince of Qi, Feng Yihan, that had visited a while ago has already become the king of Qi,” reported An Bingshan.
“Oh, so it was the crown prince of Qi. He’s sure considerate!” Yao Mowan lifted the golden box and admired it happily.
“Exactly. His Majesty even praised Your Highness for helping him salvage the situation… Ahem… This old servant will be heading back to report.” When An Bingshan realized that he had let some things slip, he immediately turned to leave.
“What are you blocking this prince for!?” Once An Bingshan left, Ye Junqing turned towards Yao Mowan angrily.
“Then should I have just let you glare at him? An Bingshan isn’t a fool. He’s already searching for the person that had secretly attacked him. If he finds out that it was you…” Yao Mowan purposefully stopped and just lifted her brows.
“And what if he finds out? This prince isn’t afraid of him!” Ye Junqing gave a cold humph.
“Mowan will give Prince just one sentence of advice: It’s better to offend a nobleman than a petty person! He’s not as easy to negotiate with as Mowan.” Yao Mowan slowly returned to her seat and stroked the gold box.
“One day this prince will definitely make him die without an intact corpse!” vowed Ye Junqing vehemently.
“Feng Yihan is truly outstanding, to have been able to overthrow the king of Qi and Feng Duo in just a month. It seems he has truly worked hard these past twenty years!” Yao Mowan sighed her praises as she pulled out a beautiful sparkling hairpin from the box.
“The immortal phoenix tail hairpin?” Yao Mowan exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the hairpin. This hairpin had great history. According to legend, in antiquity, the sky deity had taken nephrite jade, coral jade, ghost blood stone, and phoenix stone, to create this for his wife. Afterwards, it continued to be passed down. It had over a thousand years of history.
“Why would Feng Yihan give you this?” Ye Junqing frowned as he quietly mumbled this. He had also heard about the immortal phoenix tail hairpin. It was said that the sky deity’s relationship with his wife was even firmer than steel and he was unwaveringly faithful to her. In the end, the two had lost their lives together in an ancient war between the gods and the devils. This hairpin had gained a spiritual nature due to being stained with that couple’s blood, so legend has it that the woman who wears this hairpin would marry the man who gifted it. Countless songs spread this story of that immortal couple.
“Mowan truly didn’t risk her life in vain to help him!” Yao Mowan stroked the hairpin lovingly, then inserted it in her hair.
“Ahem… this prince can agree not to get involved in An Bingshan’s matter anymore, but you must agree to one condition as well.” Ye Junqing suppressed the strange vexation in his heart and looked towards Yao Mowan seriously.
“En, what is it?” Yao Mowan was in a very good mood.
“Give this prince that crappy hairpin!” Ye Junqing demanded. When Yao Mowan heard this, she froze for a moment, then her lips hooked in a smile.
“Did Mowan hear that correctly? Is Prince trying to rip Mowan off? This hairpin is priceless, not even ten thousand An Bingshans could exchange for this? Prince can do whatever you like to An Bingshan, Mowan can’t do anything about it anyways.” Yao Mowan purposefully feigned disinterest to lure him in. To her, not even ten thousand immortal phoenix tail hairpins could compare in importance to Ye Junqing!
“How precious can it be!? This prince will add a thousand taels of gold!” Ye Junqing resolved himself and raised the price. He didn’t know why, but he felt a headache seeing Yao Mowan walk around in front of him with that hairpin.
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira’s Corner]
Enjoy~ :3