At the third quarter of the hour of the Rabbit, the vermilion doors of Taiye Pavilion slowly creaked open amidst the morning mist. The gilded qilin on the door knockers exhaled wisps of condensation. Jiang Wan stood breathless behind a feicui screen, her fingertips tightly clutching the twin lotus embroidery on her cuffs. As a scholar in a lake-blue gown stepped over the threshold, his loose sleeves slipped down an inch, revealing a tattoo on his wrist that resembled a plum blossom breaking through ice—a mark identical to the assassin reported by the secret agents the night before.
"That's the third group," Lu Jingyuan's voice came from behind her, crisp as morning dew. He was dressed in a dark blue, gold-embroidered wedding robe, the mutton-fat jade pendant at his waist swaying with his breath, its pattern subtly echoing the plum blossom tattoo. Following his gaze, Jiang Wan noticed an old woman in grey under the left gallery wiping her forehead with a handkerchief, revealing a silver bracelet—the intertwined lotus design was clearly an ornament Jiang Rou had bestowed upon her personal maid half a month ago.
Subconsciously, Jiang Wan touched the pearl earring on her lobe—the signal she had arranged with Ren Yao. "Is the Princess in the kitchen?" she whispered, her gaze sweeping past the bronze tripod in the center of the courtyard. "The rolling pin used by the pastry chef is more than two inches thicker than usual."
Chapter 252