Zhang Ruting hesitated. He was absent-minded when seeing Qin Yunuan oncoming. Then he found that Leng Changxi was waiting from afar.
“Infanta Ping,” Zhang Ruting curtseyed with his hand cupped in the other before his chest.
“Save it,” Qin Yunuan appeared indifferent, “We don’t need any extra manner for greeting each other. There’s only one thing that I want to ask you. Why did the Grand Prince commit suicide?”
Zhang Ruting glanced at Qin Yunuan imperturbably, “Now everyone was guessing how the Grand Prince had been murdered. Only you believe that he killed himself. I wonder,” Zhang Ruting approached Qin Yunuan when speaking, “Why are you capable of minimizing the influence every time?”
“Know your enemy and know yourself will ensure victory,” Qin Yunuan smiled slightly, “I know what person the Grand Prince is, so I understand his behavior. He was put into a corner by Imperial Concubine Yun. If she continued, he would destroy himself or take all the people following Imperial Concubine Yun with him to death. He chose the first one, but it never occurred to him that Imperial Concubine Yun was so persistent. Also, he would never find that the Meng Family had already irritated the emperor. Actually, the emperor had been waiting for the chance to catch them all.”
Zhang Ruting showed a bitter smile, “Yes. The Grand Prince was too flabby. Facing all the problems, the only choice he would make was to escape from and cover them, just like me. If I could be brave and propose marriage to the Fang Family when Ziying was leaving, maybe everything…”
“It would still be the same,” before Zhang Ruting could finish his words, Qin Yunuan interrupted him decisively, “Even though you were in a higher position and proposed marriage earlier, it would still be the same. Sister Fang wouldn’t marry you. Those women of prominent families had their husbands ensured the moment they were born. Now the Young Master of Jinling’s King treats Sister Fang very well. You shall not worry anymore.”
Zhang Ruting looked painful with his lips tightened. He had always buried his feeling to this younger female cousin deep in his mind. However, he could never deceive himself. He loved her, protected her, and wanted to marry her. The most woeful thing was that Fang Ziying had never thought of marrying him and spending a lifetime with him. To her, he was always a brother.
“What about you?” Zhang Ruting tossed his head and asked Qin Yunuan, “If the Grand Prince could be as brave as Leng Changxi, refusing the marriage the emperor granted to him and explaining that the woman he wanted to marry was always you, would it change anything?”
“What do you mean?” Qin Yunuan’s eyes looked cold as if she could see through everything.
Zhang Ruting curled her lips, “Can’t you see? Although the Grand Prince had never said it aloud, the begonia-shaped hairpin he took with him when dying implied everything.”
“Are you saying that the person in his heart is me?” Qin Yunuan felt surprised. She had just met Sima Ruo for several times. Why would he remember her?
“Or what?” Zhang Ruting provoked, “Let me be straightforward. Indeed, the Grand Prince killed himself. What’s more, the poison he used was from me. When I got the poison for him, he was waiting under a pear tree. I had seen it clearly. When white pear flowers were falling, he was fondling the hairpin. The way he stared at it was like looking at his most beloved person in the world.”
“So what?” Qin Yunuan had nothing but the feeling to sigh when it came to the late Grand Prince, “Firstly, his love for me is his own business, not mine. Secondly, about the question you asked me just now. Sima Ruo could never become as brave and firm as Leng Changxi. So your assumption makes no sense. Thirdly, even if he could do it, there was already someone in my heart, leaving no space for the second one.”
When she finished her words, she saw Saichun hurrying up to the entrance of the palace in the golden sunset. She looked flustered with a baby in swaddling clothes in her hand. She must have hurried when receiving the message. The one led the way for her was not the eunuch of Qingping Palace but Eunuch You. From the malicious smile on his face, it was clear that what awaited Saichun was not good. “When the tree falls, the monkeys will scatter.” When Imperial Concubine Yun lost her power, the situation in the palace soon changed.
As expected, there was a message from the palace three days later. Imperial Concubine Yang, who had been promoted with a special title “Rong”, was promoted again. Queen Mother was in charge of the palace again. Imperial Concubine Yun and the Grand Prince both died. To people outside the palace, it was said that Saichun was so sad that she had to rest quietly in the Jingxi Palace every day.
“Imperial Concubine Yang was not an ordinary person,” after listening to Ting Xue’s report, Qin Yunuan took a sip of the scented Biluochun Tea, “The day I saw her, I only thought that she had a mind of her own. However, I never imagined that once she got a chance, she could be promoted at such a high speed.”
Ting Xue said cautiously, “Do we need to find people to observe Imperial Concubine Rong? I think that she has an unusual ability and an unkind intention.”
“In the palace, everyone will choose to sacrifice others in order to protect himself. Is there anyone who is kind?” Qin Yunuan sighed with emotion, “As for Imperial Concubine Rong, we don’t need to worry now. She hasn’t made her position stable yet. She won’t find trouble for us as long as there’s no conflict of interest.”
At this moment, the naughty Sun Miaoyang rushed in through the door without knocking. He looked rather excited.
“Haha! You lose! Diagnosing through looking at faces is my specialty. I’ve found that Concubine Sun is not pregnant at all with one single glance.”
Although Sun Miaoyang now lived in Prince Ning’s Mansion as an honored guest, he was still wearing his old clothes, looking like rags on his body. However, it wouldn’t affect his position in the mansion as well as Qin Yunuan’s respect for him.
Ting Xue got scared by the sudden appearance of Sun Miaoyang. Qin Yunuan, however, smiled, “Is that true?”
Sun Miaoyang looked at Qin Yunuan disdainfully, “Are you a doctor better than me? What’s more, it is only a few days since the concubine arrived at the mansion. How can she get pregnant so easily? I can make assurance with my life.”
Qin Yunuan smiled, “I know. Ting Xue, take the nice Nv Er Hong as the stake and give it to Doctor Sun.”
Smiling, Sun Miaoyang went out following Ting Xue, leaving Qin Yunuan thought silently. There was only one reason for her to spend a stake asking Sun Miaoyang to test whether Sun Baozhen was pregnant or not. At the Yellow Flower Festival when they went to the palace, Sun Baozhen invited Qin Yunuan to her carriage.
Qin Yunuan remembered that Sun Baozhen menstruated that day. Indeed, there was a thick smell of blood in the carriage. The problem was, however, that the smell was too strong to be normal. It was like the smell of fish. After that, Qin Yunuan made a comparison carefully, finding that the blood in the carriage that day was not human blood at all. It was pigeon blood.
What was Sun Baozhen’s purpose of pretending menstruation with pigeon blood? She wasn’t using it to cover the pregnancy intentionally. After she entered the mansion, Prince Ning never slept with her. If she really wanted to establish her own position in the Prince Ning’s Mansion for the Sun Family, shouldn’t she try harder to fawn on Prince Ning and gain his trust? Her action would only drive Prince Ning away.
Sun Baozhen, what were you up to? Qin Yunuan winced. It seemed that she needed a more thoughtful plan and more exploration.
In the Dongchun Courtyard, Sun Baozhen was closing her eyes and letting Xiuying pencil her eyebrows. After all, Xiuying could not do it as well as Xiuxin do. The thought that Xiuxin was kicked out due to Qin Yunuan’s trick made Sun Baozhen grit her teeth in hatred.
“Cousin,” at the door, Dou Meishuang looked exactly like the peach blossom in March with a beautiful pink full-length dress. She also put a pretty gardenia on her head, smiling.
“Give it to me. I’ll do it,” Dou Meishuang took the charcoal pencil for drawing eyebrows from Xiuying and began to draw according to the shape of Sun Baozhen’s eyebrow.
When Dou Meishuang finished her work, Sun Baozhen nodded, “Besides Xiuxin, you are the best one.”
Dou Meishuang smiled radiantly, “If you like it, I’ll do it for you every day.”
Sun Baozhen turned her head to the other side indifferently, “No need for that.” After that, when she was about to comb her hair on the temples with the horn comb, a reporting voice came from outside.
“Your Grace, Third Young Madam’s maid, Xi’er, has come.”
“Let her in.”
Before long, Xi’er walked in, holding a brocade box at arm’s length in both hands. Seeing Sun Baozhen, she curtseyed reverently, “Your Grace, Young Madam has said that in the palace the way she spoke was not so polite. She is afraid that it may offend you, so she has prepared a present to express an apology to you.”
Sun Baozhen looked calm, but deep in her eyes, there was complacence.
“Alright, put it down and you can leave.”
Xi’er shook her head, “No. Young Madam has asked me to see you open the present. If you don’t like it, she can prepare another one immediately.”
Sun Baozhen looked proud. Even Dou Meishuang beside her stood straighter. Look! No matter what grade Infanta Qin Yunuan was, or how Leng Changxi loved her, she had to lower her head before Sun Baozhen, who was seniority to her.
“Okay. Open it.”
Xi’er smiled happily and opened the brocade box quickly to show Sun Baozhen and Dou Meishuang what was inside.
“Oh dear,” the moment Dou Meishuang looked at it, she covered her mouth with her hand and exclaimed in a low voice, “This is the newest fluorescent brocade from Golden Butterfly Embroidery House. There have been only ten bolts of it all together this year. Even one chi of it is hard to get now.”
Sun Baozhen looked quite calm compared to Dou Meishuang, “Oh? Fluorescent brocade? Is it expensive?” Her attitude was so insipid. She even didn’t give the delicate, expensive brocade another glance except the first one.
“Of course it is,” Dou Meishuang explained carefully to Sun Baozhen, “It is named as fluorescent brocade because it will glow softly as fireflies do in darkness. It is said that it’s the result of adding secret ingredients from ancestors to the dye. Ordinary shops won’t dare to imagine making it.”
Hearing that, Sun Baozhen shot the brocade another glance without any passion or happiness, “Alright, Xiuying. Put things away.”
On the other side, when Xi’er reported Sun Baozhen’s reaction in detail to Qin Yunuan, Qin Yunuan’s eyes shined. She made a big guess.
Sun Baozhen. It seemed to me that your biggest secret was clear now.
