Chapter 85: Playing the Part Before Others, Hiding a Blade Beneath the Smile (Part One)

Bamboo Shadow could not have said what he felt in that moment. Qingyun and Dancin, those two very good girls, had both, for the sake of their sisterly bond, kept their distance from him with utmost care...

One was the woman he loved; the other, the one he regarded as a younger sister. In truth, he ought to be glad for them. After all, within these deep and guarded walls of a great household, to preserve such innocent sisterhood was no easy thing, much less to renounce the love between man and woman for one another’s sake. Though he would be the one to suffer in the end, so long as Qingyun and Dancin were well, what did it matter if he stood alone?

One need only look at his master and Xia Yannan to know that matters of fate could never be forced; otherwise, both sides would be wounded.

A shadow of desolation suddenly passed between the two of them, for the love that had brushed by them and for the sisterly bond they had steadfastly kept. Qingyun was never one to shed tears, yet at that instant she could no longer stop herself from wanting to cry. Just as her eyes began to sting, she heard a faint greeting: “Bamboo Shadow.”

They turned toward the voice. It was Bamboo Soaring, the newly arrived female guard. In truth, Bamboo Shadow and Bamboo Soaring had known each other for a long time; they had once learned martial arts together, yet after so many years they were still not very familiar with one another.

Bamboo Shadow looked at the spirited black-clad figure and asked, somewhat puzzled, “Aren’t you on duty today?”

Bamboo Soaring gave him a casual glance and offered no explanation, only saying, “I’m not here for you.” Then she looked at Qingyun. “The lady wishes to see you.”

She had just gone to Qingyun’s room looking for her, only to be told by the maids that she had gone out to insert mugwort sprigs. Bamboo Soaring had no choice but to search each room in Clear Speech Pavilion one by one, leaving none untouched if it had been decorated with mugwort. Only when she found this room did she catch her.

“Come along. Don’t delay any longer.” Bamboo Soaring urged Qingyun with an undercurrent of meaning.

Bamboo Shadow felt somewhat awkward at once. He took the calamus and mugwort from Qingyun’s hands and said, “Go with Bamboo Soaring. Don’t keep the lady waiting too long. I’ll finish the rest of the rooms for you.”

Qingyun did not wish to entangle herself further with Bamboo Shadow in front of an outsider, so she simply nodded and went with Bamboo Soaring to the main courtyard of Clear Speech Pavilion.

“Why does the lady want to see me?” Qingyun could not help asking along the way. After all, it had been more than forty days since she had been demoted, and during that time Huanxiu had never summoned her.

Bamboo Soaring did not conceal it and answered truthfully, “The punishment hall just sent word. Zhuoyan is pregnant. It’s probably about that.”

“Pregnant?!” Qingyun was greatly startled, but in the end she suppressed her doubts and went in silence to see Huanxiu.

After more than forty days without seeing her, Huanxiu’s abdomen had become slightly rounded. Judging by the dates, she must have been more than four months along. Her figure was indeed fuller, yet that exquisitely beautiful face had changed little; it was still that delicate oval visage, pale and translucent as jade. Qingyun stepped forward and curtsied. “This servant greets the lady.”

Huanxiu dismissed the others with a wave, keeping only Bamboo Soaring behind, before speaking to Qingyun. “You have suffered these past days... You have done very well.”

Qingyun merely replied coolly, “I did it for the marquis, and also...” She glanced at Huanxiu’s abdomen. “And for the marquis’s child.”

Hearing this, Huanxiu let out a soft sigh. With her brows faintly knit, she went straight to the point. “That night I deliberately went to frighten Zhuoyan. I thought she would babble something and give herself away, but who knew her mouth would be so tight. Now I can only say to the outside that she has gone mad, and use that as the excuse to confine her in the punishment hall.”

“So Zhuoyan did not go mad,” Qingyun murmured. Whether it was disappointment or something else, she could not tell. “Can anything else be pried from her now?”

Huanxiu shook her head, indicating there had been no progress. “What is even more unexpected is that this morning she claimed to be with child. Physician Qu specially went to the punishment hall to take her pulse, and it is indeed true.”

“Whose child is it? Have you any clue?” Qingyun asked again.

Huanxiu’s face darkened at once. “She insists it is the marquis’s. But by strange coincidence, the marquis has been dead for over two months, and she is exactly three months pregnant...”

“How could it possibly be the marquis’s!” Qingyun cried angrily. “How could she slander the marquis’s honor like this? The marquis... how could the marquis ever have looked twice at her!”

In her heart, Qingyun did not believe it at all. Even though, because of Yun Ci’s death, she had some resentment toward Huanxiu, by now she had to admit that the only person Yun Ci had ever loved was Huanxiu. Even when Xia Yannan had once been found with child, it had been nothing more than a device to divert everyone’s attention.

Not only did Qingyun not believe it, Huanxiu naturally would not believe it either. But Zhuoyan was a maid of Clear Speech Pavilion, and had come as Xia Yannan’s dowry maid. According to old custom, a dowry maid becoming a man’s bedchamber woman was nothing unusual at all. Though she knew Yun Ci would never touch Zhuoyan, Zhuoyan was now insisting on it, and no one had any real proof to refute her...

After all, the dead were already gone. Zhuoyan dared to speak such nonsense precisely because Yun Ci no longer lived.

At the thought of this, a rare chill crossed Huanxiu’s features. Lowering her voice, she said, “I had originally planned to spare her for the sake of Old Master Xia’s face. Now that she has dared to tarnish the marquis’s honor, I need not show her any further mercy.”

As soon as those words fell, Qingyun could not help but tremble, feeling as though Huanxiu had changed into another person in an instant.

At that moment, Bamboo Soaring, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke as well. “If we are not mistaken, Zhuoyan’s child must be Second Master’s. That night behind the rockery, the two of them...”

Reaching that point, Bamboo Soaring found it hard to continue and stopped at once, changing the subject with another question. “How does the lady intend to expose her?”

Huanxiu gave no answer. She only kept her face stern, her hands folded over her abdomen, as if deep in thought. After a long while, she finally lifted her cold gaze to Bamboo Soaring and Qingyun. “Since she says it is the marquis’s child, then she can no longer be kept in the punishment hall. Not only will I let her out, I will see that she is fed and attended to with the utmost care...”

A mysterious glint of coldness flashed through Huanxiu’s bright eyes, making the other two shiver. Qingyun stared unblinkingly at the widow of the Marquis of Leaving Trust upon the raised platform, and only one thought remained in her mind: Huanxiu had truly changed.

Yet in this place thick with danger, such change was inevitable. If she meant to avenge Yun Ci, she had no choice but to grow hard as iron, or else she would be unable even to protect herself.

For a moment, the three women in the room all fell silent, each lost in her own thoughts. It was as though something called calculation had begun to stir in the shadows, a serpent striking at the seventh inch, determined to hit its mark in one blow...

*****

That same day, Huanxiu reported Zhuoyan’s pregnancy to the Dowager Lady, and under the Dowager Lady’s decision, the girl was released from the punishment hall and allowed to return temporarily to Clear Speech Pavilion to recover.

After a few days in the prison cell of the punishment hall, Zhuoyan looked somewhat timid, her gaze dull as she returned to Clear Speech Pavilion.

At that time, Huanxiu was reclining askew on a beauty couch, drinking morning dew brewed with flowers. When Nurse Chi led Zhuoyan in to pay her respects, she lazily lifted her eyelids to glance at her and asked in a leisurely tone, “You’re back?” Her expression and voice bore a faint resemblance to Xia Yannan.

The moment Zhuoyan saw this, she dropped to her knees with a thud, as though frightened beyond measure, and hurriedly reported, “Please forgive me, Lady... That night this servant did not know you were there. My words were offensive and deeply improper...”

A soft click interrupted her. Huanxiu had set down her teacup on the table before the beauty couch, and she smiled lightly. “That night I was sleepless because of my pregnancy and went for a walk in the inner garden. Why was it that when you saw me, you looked as though you had seen a ghost?”

“Lady...” Zhuoyan bit her lip. She recalled the feeling of seeing Huanxiu behind the rockery in the inner garden that night, and it was indeed eerie beyond words. Huanxiu had worn a plain dress and a cloak, without the least trace of cosmetics, yet a tear-shaped mole had been set at the corner of her eye, and she had held a dagger in her hand... At the time, the ruby on the dagger had flashed into her eyes, and when she caught sight of that mole, her legs had gone weak and she had trembled so violently she fell to the ground and could not rise.

She had truly been terrified then, babbling like a madwoman without knowing what she said, and afterward she had been thrown into the punishment hall. But during these days in the punishment hall, she had thought it through clearly: this was plainly a trap set by Huanxiu to pry words from her! With that thought, her mind steadied instead.

As long as there was no real evidence, what could Huanxiu do to her, even if she had uttered some foolish nonsense? Besides, she still had the child in her belly. That child would be the key to turning heaven and earth!

When under another’s roof, one must bow one’s head. Zhuoyan understood this all too well, and so she gritted her teeth and pretended meekness. “That night, this servant was unable to sleep because I missed my young lady, so I ran to the inner garden to pray for her blessings. Who knew I would offend the lady... I was truly frightened at the time, and that was why I spoke recklessly. I beg the lady’s forgiveness.”

As soon as Zhuoyan finished speaking, a quiet laugh was heard. Looking up, she saw Huanxiu rise from the beauty couch and walk toward her with graceful steps. Huanxiu herself helped her to her feet.

Zhuoyan pretended to be overwhelmed. “Lady... how could I deserve this.”

“How could you not deserve it?” Huanxiu smiled faintly. “I have long forgotten what you said that night. It is only that you have suffered these days. Now that you carry the marquis’s posthumous child, I too began as a servant girl, so I naturally know how hard things are for you.”

At this point, Huanxiu also gave Dancin a meaningful glance before continuing to Zhuoyan, “I have already ordered the south wing of Clear Speech Pavilion prepared for you. Your body is precious, so rest there for the time being. We can nurture the child together.”

Nurture the child together? For some reason, Zhuoyan’s eyelid twitched at those words, and she instinctively shielded her abdomen. “Lady...”

Huanxiu’s rosy lips curved into a peerless smile. “Do not be afraid. The Dowager Lady has already given instructions. Your pregnancy will be cared for by Nurse Chi. If anything were to happen within Clear Speech Pavilion, her elder self would be asking me for an accounting.”

At those words, Zhuoyan finally relaxed. The Dowager Lady valued heirs above all else; since she had ordered Nurse Chi to oversee her confinement and even issued such a warning, Huanxiu was likely too concerned with appearances to dare make any rash move.

With this reasoning, Zhuoyan’s face broke into a smile as well. “Thank you for your consideration, Lady.”

Huanxiu nodded with a smile and waved a hand. “Go rest now. When the child is born, whether boy or girl, I will not allow your status to remain unclear.”

So that was what it meant... Zhuoyan was overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly. “Thank you, Lady!”

“Do not thank me. You should thank the Dowager Lady instead.” Huanxiu smiled again. “It is already late today. Rest well, and if you want anything to eat, have the kitchen make it. Tomorrow morning, go to Eternal Splendor Hall to thank her for her grace.”

Zhuoyan bent low to receive the order and was just about to take her leave when Huanxiu, as though remembering something, added, “Oh yes, I have noticed that you have grown rather close to Qingyun lately, so I will have her reassigned to serve you full-time.”