Chapter 42

The scorching noon sun had now softened, gently casting its light on the ancient palace pathway. The man’s figure was elongated, quietly following behind Xie Yun.

He had been waiting outside the door just now, unaware of the reason behind his master’s displeasure with the Crown Prince. But he could guess it. It must be because the Crown Prince had done something again, causing his master’s unhappiness.

Saying so might seem a bit presumptuous, but it wasn’t an exaggeration.

The Crown Prince, Liu Li, had always relied heavily on Xie Yun, or more precisely, on the Xie family.

Perhaps few people remembered now, but many years ago, Liu Li was not so reserved. Before he became the Crown Prince, he was youthful and talented.

He was outstanding in his talents, wise in his decisions. At a young age, he had excelled in archery competitions, overshadowing everyone else in the court.

It all stemmed from an incident.

During the Emperor’s southern inspection, he was attacked. Though he narrowly escaped, the assailants abducted the young prince, Liu Li, and threatened to exchange him for a criminal’s life.

However, that criminal had already committed suicide three days prior. They could only stall the attackers while continuously searching. At that time, the one in charge was Xie Yun’s uncle, Xie Yingzhi.

Three days later, Xie Yingzhi’s men found Liu Li.

The twelve-year-old prince was imprisoned in a secluded cave, nearly sealed off from the outside world. It was dark, damp, infested with various poisonous creatures, bats, and reeking of foul odors.

No food, no water. When the cave was finally opened, Liu Li was curled up in a corner, his back wounds festering.

The first person he saw was Xie Yingzhi.

Later, when Liu Li returned to the palace, his wounds were still not fully healed. Then he received the shocking news of the former Crown Prince’s sudden death. Under this double blow, Liu Li was almost overwhelmed.

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But perhaps because Xie Yingzhi had once rescued him, Liu Li always had some dependence on him. He wouldn’t listen to others’ words, only those of Xie Yingzhi.

Later, out of compassion, the Emperor ordered the young prince, Liu Li, to recuperate at the Xie family’s residence for a period of time.

The members of the Xie family treated him well. Both Xie Yingzhi and Xie Yun’s father, Elder Xie, had intentions of guiding him. Xie Yun, though young at the time and not fond of interacting with people, would occasionally exchange a few words with him.

Liu Li recovered quite well.

However, Jinglian always felt that this young prince had changed. He became more fretful, unpredictable.

But most of the time, he managed his emotions well.

Soon after, Liu Li was crowned the Crown Prince. His emotional dependence on the Xie family and the necessity of courting their favor for political reasons made his feelings toward the Xie family even more complicated.

Later, Xie Yingzhi passed away, and Elder Xie grew older. The next family head, Xie Yun, began to emerge.

Liu Li listened to Xie Yun’s words very much. He was afraid that Xie Yun wouldn’t help him, and he feared being abandoned by the Xie family.

But in reality, as long as Liu Li didn’t stray from the right path, Xie Yun wouldn’t abandon him.

As the legitimate second son of the royal family, he would always have a legitimate status.

So, in recent years, as long as Liu Li’s actions didn’t cross the line, Xie Yun chose to turn a blind eye to his occasional antics.

Lost in thought, Jinglian suddenly realized that this didn’t seem to be the way out of the palace.

Huh, how did his master end up back at the temporary resting place from earlier today?

The door was slowly opened, the room neatly arranged, but empty.

Clearly, she seemed to have left.

It’s a good thing she’s gone. Otherwise, if he were to chase her away now, that crybaby would surely start shedding tears again.

In the simple and cold room, there was one discordant element.

On the round table sat a fluffy, oversized spider, looking slightly squashed.

Jinglian frowned, wondering who dared to put a spider in the master’s room. It was like inviting death. He said, “Master, I’ll take it away.”

Approaching, he picked up the spider by its leg, saying, “I’ll have someone thoroughly investigate this matter.”

But when he reached Xie Yun, the man spoke in a detached tone, “Did I ask you to take it?”

Jinglian: “…”

No, you even have a penchant for collecting this stuff.

He quickly placed the spider back in its original position. “Apologies, Master.”

Xie Yun turned around and said, “Leave the palace.”

Jinglian swiftly closed the door and followed silently behind Xie Yun.

He was increasingly unable to understand his master’s thoughts. They walked so far, just to come back and look at a big spider?

And how did this big spider get here in the first place?

Meanwhile, the person who had given the spider to Xie Yun had already returned home in high spirits.

When Sang Yao left the palace, Sang Yinyue was still waiting for her in the carriage, but she seemed to be asleep. Sang Yao entered the carriage, finding her sister deep in slumber.

As the carriage neared home, Sang Yinyue finally woke up. Nearly two hours had passed, and the swelling on her face had subsided a bit, but there was still a hint of red marks.

Because Sang Yao had taken so long to come out, making her wait for so long, she scolded Sang Yao for quite a while. Sang Yao, knowing she was in the wrong, ignored her entirely, letting her words go in one ear and out the other.

When they got off the carriage, Sang Yao couldn’t wait to cross the threshold, hugging the little cat. Suddenly, Sang Yinyue grabbed her arm and said, “Xiao… Yao, I suddenly remembered something.”

Sang Yao had a bad feeling about this and continued walking forward. “I’m not listening.”

Sang Yinyue followed her. “It’s really important, you’ll be interested!”

Sang Yao ignored her and kept walking.

Sang Yinyue said, “It’s about your Xie Yun.”

What was this person talking about? What did she mean by “your” Xie Yun?

Sang Yao slowed her pace, still thinking about the kitten. She didn’t want Sang Yinyue to bother her, so she said, “You’d better say it all in one sentence.”

Sang Yinyue stood in front of Sang Yao, her expression serious. “It seems like your Xie Yun is going to be engaged to that little minx from the Li Yao Pavilion.”

Sang Yao was taken aback.

She thought about Xie Yun, then about Li Yao Pavilion. She tightened her grip on the kitten nestling in her hands. After a moment, she said, “Don’t talk nonsense. He’s not my Xie Yun! Their engagement has nothing to do with me.”

Sang Yinyue said, “But don’t you like him?”

With a smirk, she added, “See, I said it all in one sentence.”

Sang Yao no longer found Sang Yinyue’s face amusing. She asked, “How did you find out?”

Sang Yinyue chuckled twice and said, “How else could I know? Of course, I eavesdropped.”

She continued, “Today, I heard Li Yao Pavilion talking to Concubine Li about Xie Yun.”

“She said Mrs. Xie doesn’t oppose their marriage, and even mentioned they’ve been childhood sweethearts. Their engagement is supposedly set in stone.”

Sang Yao had never heard that they were childhood sweethearts.

And an engagement? She hadn’t heard anything about that either.

But she thought about it and realized she didn’t know where she would have heard such information. She didn’t know anyone from the Xie family, nor did she have any sources of information. Although she had just seen Xie Yun himself at noon, he wasn’t gentle with her at all.

He seemed a bit harsh and didn’t seem to want to talk to her.

He even misunderstood her for intentionally barging into his room.

She really disliked him.

The kitten was still mewing in her arms. Sang Yao lowered her head and said, “I need to go back to feed the kitten.”

Sang Yinyue stopped her and said, “Hey Yao, how did Xie Yun end up liking that little minx from Li Yao Pavilion? She used to chase after him without success, and I found it hilarious.”

“How did she manage to eat such good food now?”

“Yao Yao, you’re much prettier than that little minx. She’s only relying on her father. Even touching her feels like holding a brick. What kind of taste does Xie Yun have?”

Sang Yao frowned and said, “Could you please stop?”

Sang Yao didn’t want to compare herself to others.

Especially in this situation, she inexplicably didn’t want to hear Sang Yinyue belittling others.

Wait, she didn’t even like Xie Yun, so why did it matter?

Besides, Xie Yun had such a bad temper; he was far from being a swan.

Song Yao quickened her pace and said, “Oh, what does it have to do with me?”

Sang Yinyue comforted her from behind, “Don’t be upset. Xie Yun doesn’t have to marry only Li Yao Pavilion. You can just get rid of Li Yao Pavilion when the time comes.”

As expected, the dog’s mouth couldn’t spit out any ivory. Sang Yao was about to be driven crazy by this big mouth. She turned around to look at her and held back for a while before saying, “…Are you insane?”

Sang Yinyue said, “You’re the one who’s insane. You never listen to my advice.”

As they spoke, Sang Yao had already reached her courtyard. She quickly closed the door before Sang Yinyue could enter.

Sang Yinyue was still outside knocking on the door, “Hey! You haven’t returned my big spider yet!”

Sang Yao hugged the kitten and went back to her room. She placed the kitten on the round table.

When Sang Yao reached out to touch it, the kitten would nuzzle her fingers with its head.

Sang Yao didn’t really believe what Sang Yinyue said. This person always exaggerated things and spread rumors. Most of the time, the so-called confidential information she talked about turned out to be false.

So most likely this time was also fake, especially since she already knew that Mrs. Xie wouldn’t oppose Xie Yun’s choice, regardless of who it was. It was common knowledge.

Ran Dong walked in from outside, holding some fresh goat milk. She said, “Miss, this is what I got from the backyard from Master Li, freshly squeezed.”

Sang Yao took it and placed the small bowl next to the kitten.

She leaned her cheek on her hand and quietly watched.

After a while, Ran Dong said, “By the way, Miss, someone came earlier and returned the food box you gave to Master Yang last time.”

Sang Yao acknowledged with a sound, “Just leave it there.”

Ran Dong brought the food box over and said, “I just weighed it, and it feels like there’s something inside.”

Sang Yao finally looked over. The food box seemed to have been cleaned and aired out, looking much newer than when she had sent it.

Sang Yao took the food box and slowly opened it.

Inside was still the same plate she had used before, but neatly arranged on it was a plate of small cakes identical to the ones in the Princess Mansion, but even more delicate.

The milky-white rice cakes were neatly arranged, unlike the ones at the Princess Mansion, which had only five, while the ones here had at least fifteen.

Sang Yao remembered what Yang Wenchuan had said. He called these small cakes “Hundred Fruit Milk Honey,” and he could make them too.