Chapter 113

Chapter 113: Deep Regret

Two sticks of incense earlier, Chun Zhi had followed a maid from the Princess Manor to this room to change clothes. She did not like undressing in front of strangers and liked even less having someone she did not know help her dress, so she asked the maid to wait outside while she changed by herself.

The silk and brocade were fussy, so she needed time. After a while, just as she finished and reached for the door, Lu Jing Yun pushed it open and stepped in.

“Chun Zhi,” he said, his face flushed the odd red of drunkenness.

Chun Zhi frowned. She wanted to call for help, but the maid who should have been at the door was nowhere to be seen. She moved to slip past Lu Jing Yun, but he blocked her and shut the door.

Seeing she could not leave, she raised her voice: “Lu Jing Yun, you are married and I am already promised. We should act like strangers when we meet. This is the Princess Royal Anyang Manor. What are you trying to do?”

“I only want to talk, Chun Zhi,” Lu Jing Yun said as he wobbled toward her. “Please do not be angry. I just miss you too much. I only want to talk.”

“Stop right there,” Chun Zhi said as she kept backing away. “You are drunk. Everything that needed to be said has already been said. From now on, we should be strangers. Stop bothering me.”

She only wanted to get out quickly. She was about to become the Princess Consort of Chang’an to Huo Zheng, and Lu Jing Yun was the prized son-in-law of the Chancellor’s Manor. The ten years they shared in Linshui Town were long gone. When he chose Ji Ru Zhen and climbed the green-ladder of power, he should have treasured that choice. Why come make trouble now?

“I regret it, Chun Zhi,” Lu Jing Yun said, striding forward to grab her in an embrace. “I have regretted it for a long time.”

Chun Zhi gritted her teeth and shoved him hard: “Where was this regret then? Now you come to tell me you regret it? Keep your regret to yourself. Do not tell me.” Her push sent him reeling into a screen with a painful thud.

Back when she made tofu to sell, Chun Zhi had hauled her own sacks and pushed a cart. She was much stronger than most girls. Lu Jing Yun, a bookish scholar, and drunk on top of that, nearly crumpled when he hit the screen.

Chun Zhi thought to call for help, but if someone saw her in a room alone with Lu Jing Yun, the gossip would be awful. She turned to leave. He chased and pinned himself against the door to block her. His eyes were red as he said: “Do you know how I have lived these days?”

“I do not know, and I do not want to know,” Chun Zhi answered. “Move.”

“Chun Zhi, your heart is so hard,” Lu Jing Yun said, eyes wet. “Since you jumped into the river, I cannot eat, cannot sleep. I even raised my hand against Prince Chang’an. I regret it so much. If I had known, I would never have become the top scholar. I would have gone back to Linshui Town to sell tofu with you.”

When he left home to take the exams, Chun Zhi had told him that if he passed it would be wonderful, and if he failed it did not matter; she would sell tofu and support him all his life. She had meant it. But back then, Lu Jing Yun did not want a tofu seller to support him. He climbed high into the Chancellor’s Manor. Now he said he regretted it.

“Lu Jing Yun,” Chun Zhi said, her face set. “There is no medicine for regret. Even if you regret it, do not come and disturb me.”

“Chun Zhi…” A tear fell from Lu Jing Yun’s eye. He opened his mouth to say more, but Chun Zhi’s patience had run out. She shoved him aside to leave. He reached for her again, and she slapped him.

The slap was so strong that his head hit the door, and he fainted on the spot.

Chun Zhi jumped at the sight of him crumpling. She knelt to feel for breath. Thank goodness. He was still breathing.

She dragged him to the bed. He reeked of alcohol. Lying on the couch, he looked exactly like a drunk who had come here to rest. No one would know she had knocked him out. [Even if he wakes up, he will not dare tell the truth.] With that thought, she set him on the bed and turned to leave.

As she passed the lattice window, a thin bamboo tube poked through and a curl of smoke drifted in. Chun Zhi inhaled, then blew hard into the tube, forcing the smoke back out.

Whoever was outside choked on the smoke and dropped with a thud. Chun Zhi pushed open the window and found herself face to face with Wang Yi Yue. Wang Yi Yue startled and fled.

“Stand still!” Chun Zhi called, then glanced down and saw the person on the ground was a maid. She yanked the door open and ran after Wang Yi Yue.

Wang Yi Yue ran in a panic, but at the turn of the corridor someone smashed a flowerpot down and knocked her out cold. Chun Zhi rushed over and stared in surprise: “Yu Zhu… why are you here?”

“I left Linshui Town and wandered for a while,” Yu Zhu said. “I finally came to the capital. The Eldest Princess took me in, so I serve as a maid in her manor.”

“It is so good that you are safe,” Chun Zhi said, truly happy for her. Then she frowned at the flowerpot in Yu Zhu’s hands. “And this?”

“I saw you leave the banquet, so I came to find you,” Yu Zhu answered. “On the way I noticed this mistress and her maid sneaking around, so I followed them…” She had watched Wang Yi Yue and her maid blow knockout smoke toward the room. There was no time to fetch help, and she could not handle both by herself. She figured she should drop one with a flowerpot first. She did not expect Chun Zhi to react so quickly, knock out the maid, and then rush out to chase the mistress.

Not sure if she had hit too hard, Yu Zhu crouched to check Wang Yi Yue. There was no bleeding, and her head showed no obvious wound. She held a finger under Wang Yi Yue’s nose and nodded. “She is only knocked out. She should be fine. I will go report to the Eldest Princess.”

“Wait,” Chun Zhi said, thinking fast. Wang Yi Yue and her maid knew she and Lu Jing Yun were in the room, which was why they tried to fill it with knockout smoke. They meant to frame her and Lu Jing Yun. [Their hearts are vicious.] “Then we will return the favor in the same way.”

Yu Zhu met Chun Zhi’s eyes and immediately understood. “All right,” she said.

Together they carried Wang Yi Yue into the room and dropped her onto the bed beside Lu Jing Yun. They tugged and rumpled both people’s clothes for effect. Chun Zhi decided to see what would happen next and took Yu Zhu into the back room. The two listened for sounds outside while quietly catching up about everything that had happened since they parted, waiting for the show to begin.