Chapter 042
Chapter 42: Beware the Third Princess
Lin Yu Jiao pinched her embroidered handkerchief, her brows drawn tight as she stared at her eldest sister, Lin Yu Wan, who had just stepped through the courtyard gate. Yu Wan wore a fitted riding outfit that made her look crisp and capable. Her usually high, neat bun had loosened, a few damp strands stuck to the side of her neck with sweat. Second Sister decided she must have come back from that awful military camp again.
Lin Yu Jiao snapped, her voice edged with heat: “Big Sister, why did you run off to Father’s camp again?”
She added, unable to hold back: “Didn’t Mother remind you to go less? She keeps saying girls playing with blades and spears is bad for marriage once people hear about it.”
Yu Wan acted like she did not care. She only shoved the brocade box Lu Chen had given her deeper into her sleeve. She wiped the thin sweat at her temple and did not even bother to lift her eyelids as she said, flat and simple: “I went to deliver something,” then slanted a look at Lin Yu Jiao: “Unless you want to deliver it next time?”
Yu Jiao flinched back at once and covered her mouth and nose with her handkerchief in disgust as she snapped: “I’m not going! That place stinks, all sweat and rust. Can’t you just send a page to run the errand? You had to go yourself!”
Yu Wan tugged at the corner of her mouth but let the topic drop. Her gaze drifted far away. [What am I really thinking about?]
Just then, Nanny Wang, who served their mother, hurried over and curtsied to both of them as she said: “Eldest Miss, Second Miss, Madam asks you to bring Third Miss and come at once. She has an urgent reminder.”
The three sisters reached Second Madam’s rooms. Before they could even sit, Second Madam grabbed them close and lowered her voice like she held a secret as she said: “Have you heard? A big mess just blew up in your big uncle’s courtyard!”
Yu Wan rolled her eyes in her heart. [Mother thinks nothing in the world matters more than gossip.] But Grandmother had recently ordered them not to pry into the main branch. That made her a little curious, so she asked, steady and polite: “What happened, Mother?”
Second Madam’s eyes lit up at once; her whole spirit lifted as she said: “That Buddha’s Chosen cousin of yours, Lin Qing Xuan, went to Fahua Temple a few days ago for a rite. Halfway through, he actually jumped on a horse and raced back home!”
She leaned in, all excitement: “All to save a little maid in his courtyard named Xiao Man!”
Words tumbled from her like beads as she said: “I heard that girl got blocked in a corner by a few maids in the manor who were jealous of her, and they beat her half to death! Your Great Aunt was so mad she erupted on the spot and sold those bullies off to the lowest places.”
Second Madam lowered her voice even more and bent forward to make it sound extra secret as she said: “And that’s not even the most shocking part. My people say your cousin has been staying with that girl in Auspicious Cloud Residence every day, practically never leaving her side. Even the Old Madam was alarmed… and sent over a pair of mandarin duck pillows.”
Yu Wan raised a brow as she asked, dry: “Mother, which trail did this news come down? Is it reliable?”
Second Madam flicked her chin toward Nanny Wang and said: “They told me. Would they lie?”
The youngest sister, Lin Yu Ning, who had been quiet, cut in with a face that said she had seen through everything long ago as she declared: “I said they were acting shameless right in daylight, but you didn’t believe me. You told me to shut up!”
Yu Wan shot her a glare, stopping the damage fast as she said: “You shut it. Elder Cousin is famous as the Buddha’s Chosen, calm as still water. How would he do something like that under the bright sky?”
Yu Jiao bobbed her head hard, indignant as she said: “Exactly! Little Sister, don’t talk nonsense!”
Yu Ning muttered, not convinced as she said: “Hmph. Then they can do it at night, right?”
Second Madam waved a hand, impatient to move on as she said: “Enough. True or not, if your elder cousin, that chunk of ice, is showing signs of melting, then it’s time we put the three of your marriages on the table.”
The words had barely fallen when Little Sister Yu Ning grabbed Second Madam’s arm and wheedled as she said: “I don’t want to marry! I want to stay with Mother for life!”
Yu Wan stayed quiet, but her eyes drifted to the window. In her mind, a figure under the blazing sun in the camp swung a blade and lance, sweat flying. [Him.]
Yu Jiao tipped up her chin, proud as she tapped her smooth jaw with her handkerchief and said: “Anyway, I won’t take anyone ugly, smelly, or uneducated. Not a single one.”
Second Madam shook her head, too tired to argue. She shifted to the point at hand as she said: “How are your preparations for the Third Princess’s flower-viewing banquet?”
At the words “Third Princess,” the air in the room turned odd. This Third Princess was the only daughter of Consort Oriole, the Emperor’s pampered favorite. With her beautiful singing voice and her family’s influence, Consort Oriole walked sideways through the Inner Palace, and she raised the princess into a haughty and willful character. Other unmarried princesses lived in proper princess quarters in the Inner Palace. This one had even dared to set up a private house outside the palace. What was worse, the Emperor had chosen to turn a blind eye.
The princess also had a perverse hobby everyone in the land knew about. She loved collecting handsome male pets and kept them in her private homes to sing and play every day.
Second Madam’s face was as serious as they had ever seen it as she said: “Remember this. At the banquet, if any food or drink leaves your sight, do not touch it. The more lawless a princess like her is, the more she enjoys playing nasty tricks with that.”
She cut a pointed glance at the still-clueless Little Sister and said: “You three must watch out for each other, especially you, Little Third. Stop running wild like a colt and making your two sisters search the whole world for you.”
All three agreed at once. They knew the reason the Third Princess kept sending invitations to the General’s Manor. She did not care about flowers. She admired their elder cousin, Lin Qing Xuan, praised as the Capital City’s first Young Master. They had put her off with excuses several times, but the princess was stubborn. Invitations kept coming like snowflakes. If they kept refusing, they would make an enemy. They had no choice but to go.
Thinking about the princess’s painted playthings singing those syrupy tunes at the banquet, Yu Jiao rolled a thunderous eye in her heart. [Shameless.]
Yu Wan stood and answered, steady as ever as she said: “Don’t worry, Mother. We will be careful.”
When they left the courtyard, Yu Ning bounced ahead again, lively and bright. The silk butterfly in her hair flipped up and down with each jump. Watching that carefree back, Yu Jiao felt a strange pinch of envy for the first time.
She lowered her voice and leaned close to Yu Wan as she asked: “Big Sister, do you think the Third Princess will try something crooked again?”
Yu Wan narrowed her eyes at the bright sunset and said, unreadable: “Who can say? Whatever comes, we block soldiers with generals and water with earth. We will adjust to whatever happens.”
Far off, the last light of day washed over the layered eaves of the General’s Manor, stretching the sisters’ shadows longer and longer across the ground.