Chapter 057
Chapter 57: Zheng Xiu Yun’s Plan Falls Apart
Zheng Xiu Yun had not been idle these days.
She had planted eyes and ears all over the Auspicious Cloud Residence. A few cleaning girls were easily bought with some broken silver, and soon she knew Buddha’s Chosen Lin Qing Xuan’s habits inside and out.
He always bathed before every session of sutra copying.
Today, the Auspicious Cloud Residence was unusually quiet. Yao Xiao Man said she felt unwell and stayed in bed. Chen Shi had been sent out early to deliver newly copied sutras to the temple. Granny Chen had wandered off to gossip in some other courtyard. In that big compound, only Old Chen remained, dozing under the eaves with a water pipe in his hands.
Heaven was helping her.
Zheng Xiu Yun faced the bronze mirror and carefully drew her brows and eyes. She put on a new dress in peach pink that made her figure look even more slender. She dipped lip rouge and pressed it on three times until her mouth looked as red as a bleeding petal. Her hair was styled in the fashionable Liu Yun bun, and she switched to a pair of gold wire earrings set with rubies. As she tilted her head, the drops swayed by her cheeks.
In the mirror, a fair-skinned beauty looked back, eyes bright and fluid.
Pleased, Zheng Xiu Yun smiled and stepped out.
Today, she would win.
As she walked, a few cleaning nannies could not help looking twice and whispering together. One murmured, “Oh my, where is Miss Zheng going like this? She looks ready for a match.” Another tsked, “Look at that shape and that face. A real beauty.”
Hearing them, Zheng Xiu Yun felt a secret rush of pride, though she only lifted her chin in a show of poise and walked even faster.
A bunch of servants with no taste, what could they know.
She slipped around to the back courtyard of the Auspicious Cloud Residence. As expected, the bathhouse door stood slightly open.
Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might leap from her throat. She took a deep breath and pushed the door. Steam mixed with the smell of soap rushed at her. The mist put a soft red on her cheeks.
Holding her breath, she tiptoed forward, then circled the painted screen with its mountains and rivers.
She lowered her voice, sweet and sticky on purpose, and called: “Cousin…”
A tall figure stepped out from behind the screen.
Lin Qing Xuan’s monk robe hung loose over one shoulder, revealing a broad, hard chest. His long dark hair was still wet, and drops slid along his sharp collarbone and disappeared into his half-tied robe.
On his striking face, there was not a trace of desire. There was only a field of ice.
Their eyes met, and the air turned solid.
His look was as cold as a blade dipped in winter, and it drove straight into Zheng Xiu Yun’s heart as he said, “Get out.”
The words were low and icy, without any heat, yet heavy enough to crush.
The smile on Zheng Xiu Yun’s face froze. All color drained from her cheeks at once.
In the courtyard, Old Chen flinched at the shout and dropped his water pipe. It hit the ground and broke into pieces.
In the inner room, Yao Xiao Man shot up in bed, rubbed her ear, and blinked. [Did Buddha’s Chosen just scold someone?]
Zheng Xiu Yun all but crawled out of the bathhouse. Her bun had come apart, the gold earrings swung wildly, and the carefully pressed rouge on her lips had smeared. She looked utterly bedraggled.
Head down, she only wanted to run away from this place that made her want to sink into the floor. But she ran right into the same Old Granny and Junior Maid who had been whispering earlier.
One of them greeted her with a too-sweet voice, saying: “Oh, Miss Zheng?” Another added, “Goodness, why are you coming out of Buddha’s Chosen’s bathhouse?” A third clicked her tongue and said, “So pale, and your mouth is smeared. Did Buddha’s Chosen throw you out?” Yet another said, “Tsk tsk, hearts are greedy without end. Do you even know who you are? You think you can covet Buddha’s Chosen?”
Fingers pointed and whispers flew, but the voices stayed low. No one wanted to make a real scene and give Zheng Xiu Yun an excuse to bite back at Buddha’s Chosen. Even so, the gossip grew wings and, in the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, spread across the entire Heir Apparent Manor.
In First Madam’s courtyard, a fine celadon teacup smashed against the floor.
“Fool,” First Madam Wang spat as her chest rose and fell with anger. She jabbed a finger at the kneeling Zheng Xiu Yun and shouted: “I told you to get close to Qing Xuan using your head, not to take off your clothes and make us lose face.”
Zheng Xiu Yun wept like a pear blossom in rain, her whole body shaking: “Aunt, I did not do it on purpose. I only took a wrong turn…”
“Wrong turn?” First Madam let out a cold laugh and looked even sharper than Lin Qing Xuan. “Who in this house does not know where the Auspicious Cloud Residence bathhouse is tucked away? Do you think everyone else is a fool, or do you think I am one?”
Nanny Zhou stood to the side, hands lowered, and watched the gasping, sobbing girl while shaking her head inside. The Madam had truly lifted a rock only to drop it on her own foot this time. In tricks and craft, this Zheng Xiu Yun was far behind that girl Xiao Man.
In the corner of the room, a knot of black mist rolled and gathered. A sharp laugh sounded next to Zheng Xiu Yun’s ear, cold and vicious: “Hee hee… another one who does not know her limits.” The mist floated close and whispered where only she could hear: “Did you think a little vulgar powder on your face could catch the eye of Buddha’s Chosen?”
“Who is speaking?” Zheng Xiu Yun almost blurted, then lifted her head and felt cold sweat on her back. She saw only her furious Aunt and the calm-faced Nanny Zhou. Nothing else.
She shivered hard and thought that this Heir Apparent Manor was much scarier than she had imagined.
First Madam flicked her sleeve and said, “Go. Behave yourself in this house and you may stay a few more days.”
She did not drive her out, but the words left a vague threat behind.
On the way back to her small courtyard, Zheng Xiu Yun kept turning things over in her mind: [I was too impatient and handed them gossip for nothing. The good impression I just built collapsed at once.] [Servants and maids will laugh at me now, but as long as I endure and find a new chance, with my looks winning over Buddha’s Chosen will not take long.]
Heart Demon Tuan Tuan followed her and saw black fumes rising above her head, the filthy breath of desire. For a demon, such fumes should have been a great tonic, but Tuan Tuan only felt sick.
This woman thought herself a beauty, but she was far worse than Xiao Man. He grumbled to himself: [Xiao Man is the fun one. Even when she fights me and points at me to curse, I still think she is cute.]