Chapter 210

Chapter 210: Old Trope

She looked at Prince Ping, then at Princess Consort Ping, and let out a small laugh.

Prince Ping snapped, “You took money to do bad things, and you still dare laugh?”

Yu Zhi Yi finally looked him in the eye and said, “It’s just my first time seeing a script play out in real life. I think it’s fresh and funny, that’s all.”

Then she ignored Prince Ping and turned to Princess Consort Ping, asking, “Do you remember, five years ago when you went home to honor your ancestors, you happened to save a man covered in wounds on the road?”

Princess Consort Ping froze, then after a moment said, “I think… there was something like that.”

Prince Ping laughed coldly and said, “Yu Zhi Yi, I know you have some skill. You saw how I met A Li and fell in love, but don’t you dare pretend this was that woman’s doing. A woman as dull and cold as her would never save an injured man.”

Princess Consort Ping was trying to recall, but his spiteful words cut her off.

She had been very hurt at first, but when she heard him call her dull and cold, anger burned away her sadness. She gave a chilly smile and said, “If I could, I would rather have never saved you five years ago.”

She turned back to Yu Zhi Yi and said, “It really did happen. We were traveling on the official road. The next post station was still far and it was almost noon, so our group stopped to rest.”

“I got down to stretch and heard someone calling for help, so I led a few people toward the sound. Soon we found a man covered in wounds.”

“He was badly hurt. He had more than twenty cuts from blades, but the most deadly one was near his heart. Besides that, there was a through-and-through wound on his thigh. The physician said that leg wound was very dangerous. If handled poorly, he might be lame for the rest of his life.”

“Compared to that, the wound near his heart wasn’t the hardest one, because he carried medicine that could protect his heart meridian and took it in time.”

“I begged my father to bring him along so the traveling physician could keep treating him.”

“Half a month later, we reached my hometown, Lian Guan Commandery. By then the life-threatening injury was no longer a problem. His leg was still a bit weak, but he could take care of himself. I had him sent to an inn and left him fifty taels of silver.”

Fifty taels might be small change for nobles and high officials, but for common folk it could keep them fed for a long time.

Even if he still needed medicine later, it would carry him two or three years.

Princess Consort Ping let out a breath.

Learning that her bond with her husband had started years earlier, yet neither of them knew, and that a fox spirit had slipped in to steal her place, left her with mixed feelings she could not name. But compared to that stolen fate, the fact that Prince Ping thought she was cold and dull, and had been forcing himself to live with her in disgust all these years, was even harder to accept.

Prince Ping was stunned and said, “No… impossible.”

What Princess Consort Ping said matched the truth exactly.

Suddenly, a thought struck him and he said, “It was that fake priest. She must have told you those details.”

Princess Consort Ping frowned and said, “She was appointed by His Majesty as a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Justice, not some fake priest. And even if Official Yu saw all this, and I tried to steal another person’s credit for saving you, the pouch I gave you back then has a rhododendron I embroidered myself. The ‘Zhen’ from my name, Shao Manzhen, is hidden in that flower.”

Prince Ping hurriedly reached into his robe, not even noticing that he could move his body again.

The fox spirit’s face changed. She lunged to snatch the pouch.

But in front of Yu Zhi Yi, she had no chance.

The fox spirit had barely stretched out her hand when she found she could not move at all. She had to watch as Prince Ping took out the pouch and flipped to the rhododendron pattern. Sure enough, within the petals he found a “Zhen” stitched using a special technique.

He had noticed that special bit of stitching before, but never thought about it, assuming it was just some clever design by the maker of the pouch.

Princess Consort Ping explained to Yu Zhi Yi, “Women of our standing look high and mighty, but it is like standing atop a tower made of paper. One wrong step, and you fall and shatter.”

“In the inner courtyard there are secret tricks that can ruin a woman’s name very easily.”

“Items close to the body, like pouches and handkerchiefs, must never be carelessly separated from us.”

“But I have loved embroidery since I was young. I like to copy the masters and sign my name on a finished piece.”

“As I said, once these things leave our side or get stolen by someone with bad intentions, they can bring ruin. If I boldly stitch my name right on a handkerchief or a pouch, trouble comes even faster. So I thought of another way.”

“I used threads of different colors to blend my name into the work. Unless someone knows my embroidery very well, a passerby who picks up my piece would never realize my name is hidden inside it.”

Yu Zhi Yi was deeply shaken.

She had seen a lot, but most people who came for help were poor commoners. Only a few nobles, like Marchioness Wu’an, ever came to her.

This was her first time hearing such a self-protection method in the inner courtyard.

Princess Consort Ping looked worn and said, “Official Yu, please take care of this female ghost.”

Prince Ping tried to refuse and said, “No!”

But he was not Yu Zhi Yi’s client. Yu Zhi Yi flicked a talismanic seal at the fox spirit.

Golden light burst out. In a blink, the fox spirit was wrapped inside the light.

The talismanic seal folded itself into a triangle and flew back into Yu Zhi Yi’s hand. She picked up the fox paperweight and said, “I’m taking this. Otherwise something dark will keep appearing inside it, and you can’t guard against that.”

Princess Consort Ping had no objection.

Prince Ping did, but Yu Zhi Yi did not care.

Her client was Princess Consort Ping.

When the matter was settled, Yu Zhi Yi was ready to leave. Princess Consort Ping remembered something and asked nervously, “Official Yu, earlier you said Prince Ping had only three days left…”

Yu Zhi Yi said, “Don’t worry. The evil thing is gone, and I’m taking away the paperweight that can hide evil. He won’t die. But… he will be unlucky for a while, that’s for sure.”

She added, “Princess consort, do you want to buy some talisman paper to clear yin energy? It’s not expensive, one hundred taels a sheet, and you don’t need to pay in cash right now.”

She did not really want to make money off this, but if her client needed it, she would not be stingy with a talisman paper.