Pei You still furrowed her brow. "But she looked so unhappy. How about we send the whole stack on the table in the room to her?"
After all, the very first gift she received after coming home was from Chen Yunxin. "I can't give her the ones I've already replied to, but the unreplied ones can all go to her."
Nanny Xu had not yet pulled her thoughts out of the treacherous labyrinth of palace intrigues when she heard Pei You's proposal. Looking into those clear, sparkling apricot-blossom eyes, Nanny Xu was certain her young lady truly understood nothing of these things.
This move was indeed infuriating enough. Nanny Xu decisively bowed in assent. "My lady is truly kind."
Pei You smiled shyly, waved her hand dismissively, and watched with a radiant smile as Nanny Xu walked toward Chen Yunxin's Jinxiu Courtyard carrying a thick stack of calling cards.
Perhaps because Chen Yunyan had stood up for her at Wanhe Courtyard, Pei You spent the next few days in complete peace—except for the afternoon Nanny Xu delivered the invitations, when a maid from Jinxiu Courtyard passed by the entrance of Feihua Courtyard carrying a basket of shredded paper and shouting loudly, "Miss Yunxin is so kind-hearted! She instructed that all this waste paper be taken to the back kitchen to be burned."
This caused Pei You, who was warming up with a run in the courtyard, to glance over.
"My lady needn't mind..." Nanny Xu instinctively wanted to comfort her. After all, tearing them up so ostentatiously and coming over to provoke her showed that Chen Yunxin had genuinely been driven to fury.
"Isn't Feihua Courtyard on the diagonal opposite from the back kitchen? How strange." Pei You just murmured in brief puzzlement before continuing with her exercises, leaving Nanny Xu to silently close her mouth.
Her young lady was truly... innocent to the point of being utterly oblivious to other people's malice.
Light water-sleeves traced graceful arcs in the air, and Pei You's gaze gradually grew calm. To her astonishment, Nanny Xu noticed that there seemed to be something new in Pei You's dancing posture, though an observer would be hard-pressed to put a finger on what that sudden quality was.
In the blink of an eye, the day arrived for her visit to Jiaofang Si in the imperial palace. When Pei You once again donned the strictly regulated court robes, she still felt a flutter of anxiety in her chest. Her slender hands cupped Nanny Xu's hands as the old woman adjusted her garments.
"Nanny, can I really do this?"
Gazing into those uneasy eyes, Nanny Xu nodded with certainty. "My lady, rest assured." Pausing for a moment, she unfastened the orchid-embroidered sachet from her waistband and hung it on Pei You.
Meeting Pei You's questioning gaze, Nanny Xu fell imperceptibly silent for a fraction of a moment, then looked up with a smile. "Walking in the palace sometimes requires something to prove one's identity. Since my lady has nothing of the sort at hand, just use this for now."
Pei You obediently nodded and boarded the carriage under Nanny Xu's watchful gaze.
Stopping before the same palace gate as before, Pei You looked up and saw two guards on duty. Seeing the long, fierce gleam of their swords, her approaching steps paused slightly.
"Who goes there?"
Looking at the guards, Pei You spoke in a clear, gentle tone, "Pei You, daughter of the Wangyuan Marquis Manor, here at the invitation of Lord Jiang of the Ministry of Rites."
The guards frowned in bewilderment. "The young lady from the Marquis Manor who was invited has already entered the palace. Why is there another one?"
Pei You blinked in bewilderment. There were only two young ladies in the Wangyuan Marquis Manor, but surely Lord Jiang hadn't failed to invite her elder sister?
"Could you please send someone to inquire?"
The guard cupped his fists, went inside to report, and returned to say, "Please present a token of identity."
Pei You unfastened the sachet from her waist and handed it to the guard.
***
Chen Yunxin walked through the palace with her hands folded, heading not toward Jiaofang Si, but in the direction of the Crown Prince's palace.
"Miss, at this hour, the Second Young Lady should have already arrived," her maid Qiushi stepped forward to remind her.
Chen Yunxin let out a dismissive, indifferent scoff. "She won't get in. Second Brother already smoothed things over with the people at Jiaofang Si beforehand. Even if anyone wants to relay a message, the people at Jiaofang Si will only say there's no such thing."
Qiushi still felt uneasy. "But... Lord Jiang still needs to be given some explanation..."
Chen Yunxin frowned. "There's no rush. Lord Jiang wanting to see that wretched girl is nothing more than using her dance to reminisce about Princess Taiping. Just telling him she has a foot injury will do."
Catching sight of the distant silhouette of the East Palace coming into view, Chen Yunxin's expression took on a touch of eager anticipation. "Showing our faces before His Highness early on—that is what truly matters."
Qiushi wanted to advise further, but Zhixia shot her a sideways glare and a warning hissed in her ear: "Do you want to make the young lady unhappy? With the Third Young Master making arrangements, what possible problems could there be?"
"Have you forgotten Mother Du? Making our young lady unhappy means certain death!" After threatening Qiushi with a glare, Zhixia hurried to catch up by Chen Yunxin's side.
Thinking of Mother Du, who had been exposed for smuggling Miss Yunxin's jewelry out of the manor to sell for cash, and ultimately had her legs broken before being sent off to wash clothes in the gloomy management quarters, Qiushi felt a chill run through her entire body.
Upon receiving the reply from Jiaofang Si that Lord Jiang had not invited the Second Young Lady of the Marquis Manor, the guard hurried back to report.
Qingping had just finished his duties inside the hall and stepped out for a breath of fresh air when he spotted the black-armored guard holding a pink sachet. Recognizing him as a familiar face from the gate, Qingping couldn't help being amused.
"Lord Guard is in high spirits today, even wearing a sachet," Qingping bantered casually, though with an underlying note of caution. "Judging by the style, it looks like a palace maid's. You shouldn't be foolish—if the nobles in the palace were to see it, it wouldn't be easy to explain."
The guard recognized his good intentions, yet he genuinely wasn't tangled in any ambiguous romantic affairs with a palace maid. He raised the sachet and said, "You misunderstand, Eunuch Qingping. Someone outside the gate wants this delivered to Lord Jiang of Jiaofang Si, but the palace says there's no such thing. So, I'm just heading back to report."
At the sight of the sachet, however, Qingping's gaze paused slightly. He had seen such a familiar orchid pattern in more than one place.
Without dropping the smile from the corners of his lips, Qingping very naturally took the sachet from the guard's hand and absentmindedly rubbed his fingers across it until he brushed against a certain embroidered character, causing his smile to freeze.
"Don't rush off, Guard. This might be my adoptive father's guest. Wait a moment while I go ask for instructions."
The guard was utterly baffled, but since Qingping's adoptive father was Fulu, whom he couldn't afford to offend, he nodded and agreed.
Qingping concealed the sachet inside his sleeve, lowered his head, bowed, and entered the hall.
After exchanging a glance with his adoptive son, Fulu instructed his subordinates to attend to their duties and followed him into the outer chamber.
"What is it?"
Qingping turned sideways and handed the orchid sachet from his sleeve to Fulu. "Your son didn't wish to disturb Your Honor, but this matter is urgent."
Upon catching sight of the sachet, Fulu's expression froze. His fingertips trembled as he caressed the fabric, and when he touched the familiar character "He", his entire body went rigid. Had that person truly returned?
"Adoptive Father?" Seeing that Fulu remained silent for a long time, Qingping prompted him quietly.
"Ah," Fulu snapped back to his senses abruptly. "You... you said where did this sachet come from?"
"A guard at the gate brought it to deliver to Lord Jiang of Jiaofang Si, but Jiaofang Si said there's no such thing." Qingping explained in a few words, catching the long-absent panic and deep thought in his adoptive father's eyes.
"Here is what we'll do: take my tally, go with that guard to Jiaofang Si, and go straight to see Lord Jiang."
Though he didn't know why He'er had entered the palace just to see Lord Jiang, she was always thorough in her actions and would never come without a directive. That meant she had fallen victim to someone else's scheming.
Qingping accepted the waist tally, acknowledged the order, and hurried away, striding quickly toward Jiaofang Si with the guard. The tally of a chief eunuch of the first rank was not something Jiaofang Si could block; Qingping entered smoothly without hindrance.