Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Jiang Youze pressed his lips together. Only after a long while did he speak, his voice terribly dry and hoarse.
“Tell your mistress she has been chosen as the princess’s study companion. She is to enter the palace in five days.”
When the person inside still made no sound, he lowered his eyes, turned, and left.
Since Qingqing did not want to see him now, he would wait until she entered the palace.
Once she passed through those gates, she would be somewhere he could see her.
Linghe stood at the courtyard entrance, stunned for a long time.
The princess’s study companion?
She spun around and ran into the room, nearly tripping over the threshold.
“Miss! Did you hear? The princess’s study companion!”
Si Yan was still reclining on the daybed, her eyes turned toward the window.
The window she had closed herself shut out the person outside completely.
She could see neither the peonies in the courtyard nor the man who had stood at its entrance.
Yet she could not stop looking that way.
Linghe had said what she wanted to say but could not bring herself to voice. Hearing it had only left her feeling stifled again.
She looked away and nodded. Her voice was muted and flat. “I heard.”
Linghe and Jihe exchanged a look. Neither thought their mistress’s reaction was right.
“Aren’t you happy, Miss? The princess’s study companion!”
Beside her, Jihe nodded in agreement, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
“Yes, Miss! So many noble young ladies do everything they can and still never get such a chance!”
Si Yan picked up her storybook and leafed through it, though her eyes never settled on the words.
In her dream, she had not become a princess’s study companion. Nor had he reached his present position yet.
“Do you think he’s doing it on purpose?” she asked suddenly.
“What?” Linghe and Jihe spoke together, exchanging a bewildered look.
“Getting me into the palace, where I’ll be under his nose every day.”
Si Yan closed the book, tossed it onto the daybed, and sat up with a faint scoff.
“What does he want? To watch me? Is he afraid I’ll really marry Xiao Heng?”
Barefoot, she went to the wardrobe and searched through her clothes. “Send for the seamstress.”
It had been three years. It was time she had some new clothes.
Jiang Youze was a Eunuch Secretary now, anyway. He no longer needed her to send him silver.
Linghe opened her mouth but could not find a response.
Her mistress’s thoughts took turns so quickly she could not keep up.
“Yes, Miss.” She was about to go when Si Yan called her back.
“And find out who the other study companions are.”
In her dream, they had been Shen Mingzhu of the Marquis of Yongning’s residence; Song Qingyi, daughter of the Minister of Imperial Sacrifices; Xu Rumei, General Anyuan’s younger sister; and Liu Xiyue, granddaughter of the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy.
Which of them could she associate with, and which should she avoid? She needed to know it all.
The next day, after returning from court, her father had someone obtain a copy of the palace rules from the Imperial Household Department and send it to her room.
Soon afterward, a great many more things arrived. This time, however, they came from a certain someone.
The finest brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Newly made pearl hairpins, earrings, and jade ornaments.
Fabrics for all four seasons, along with several boxes of the scented powder currently fashionable in the palace.
Si Yan sat at her dressing table, turning two gold hairpins over and over in her hands.
“Does he think a few gifts will make me stop being angry?”
They certainly would not!
She would stop being angry when he explained himself to her face.
Until then, even if she saw him in the palace, she would act as though they barely knew each other.
Linghe lifted the curtain and came in from outside, holding a sheet of paper. “Miss, I’ve found out.”
The women were the same as in her dream, except that she had taken Xu Rumei’s place.
“Miss, Shen Mingzhu has always been at odds with you. Once you’re in the palace, won’t she…”
She did not finish, but her meaning was plain on her face.
Shen Mingzhu was the Fifth Princess’s elder cousin. Her mother’s younger sister was Consort Chun, currently enjoying the emperor’s favor.
Would entering the palace not be like a lamb walking into a tiger’s jaws? Would Shen Mingzhu not trample and bully her every day?
Si Yan turned from the dressing table to look at Linghe and Jihe. Her tone was serious.
“Whichever of you comes into the palace with me, remember this.”
“The palace is not our home. Don’t look at what you shouldn’t see, don’t listen to what you shouldn’t hear, and don’t ask what you shouldn’t know.”
She was not afraid of Shen Mingzhu targeting her.
She was afraid the two maids would stand up for her, only to give someone a pretext to persecute them to death.
Linghe and Jihe nodded together, their expressions turning solemn. “We understand.”
Over the next few days, Si Yan tried to read the palace rules, but scarcely made it through two pages before growing sleepy.
Linghe shook her awake. She read two more pages, grew sleepy again, and lay on the daybed half asleep.
Ah, storybooks were much more interesting.
They had Cui Yingying listening to the zither at night, Du Liniang strolling in the garden and waking from a dream, Hongfu fleeing into the night to join her love.
What did the palace rules have? Page after page of “forbidden.” Enough to give anyone a headache.
On the morning she was to enter the palace, Linghe dug her out of bed before dawn.
Hair, makeup, clothes: after nearly two hours of fussing, the carriage finally left the residence.
By the time they reached the palace gates, daylight was bright, morning sun spilling over the high walls.
Si Yan stepped down with Linghe’s help and looked toward the other young noblewomen who had been chosen.
Shen Mingzhu stood at the front. As Si Yan approached, her eyes narrowed slightly.
Others might not have known who was on the list, but as the Fifth Princess’s cousin, she naturally did.
Did he think slipping Si Yan’s name among the study companions would elevate her standing and lend her prestige?
Was he telling the whole capital that Si Yan had someone to protect her?
Ridiculous!
A eunuch was still a eunuch, however high he climbed.
So what if he brought Si Yan into the palace? So what if he kept her under his eye to protect her?
Could he stand beside her before everyone’s watching eyes?
Could he defend her as her fiancé when she was bullied?
He could not.
Since he insisted on sending Si Yan into the Fifth Princess’s domain, he could hardly blame Shen Mingzhu for being unkind.
The palace gates creaked open.
The man who came to receive them was a middle-aged eunuch with a pale, beardless face and a fly whisk in his hand.
He stopped at the gate and flicked the whisk into the crook of his arm. His voice was high and thin, but not shrill.
“Forgive the wait, young ladies. Please follow me.”
Shen Mingzhu stepped forward first. After two steps, she turned back, covering her mouth with a handkerchief. A hint of boasting colored her tone.
“There are so many paths in the palace. Since this is your first visit, Miss Si, do keep close. We wouldn’t want you getting lost.”
Si Yan could not be bothered to answer. Without even lifting her eyes, she followed the eunuch inside.
In her dream, she had traveled these palace paths countless times, fleeing Jiang Youze’s men as they pursued her.
Barefoot, she had run along the moss-covered, deserted path behind the Cold Palace. Even when sharp stones cut her soles bloody, she had not dared stop.
She had seen the lanterns in the imperial study too, though that was no pleasant memory either.
In the dream, he had pressed her down onto the imperial desk and kissed her, a mountain of memorials digging into her lower back.
Her body had trembled for lack of air. When she struck his shoulder with her hands, he twisted them behind her back.
Only when she was almost suffocating had he agreed to let her go.