010 The Miss Is About to Suffer Again
As the night grew deeper, Su Huajin returned to Minghui Court to sleep, and the lights in Zhao Xuanzhen’s study dimmed. The moon was bright, and the stars were sparse… A black shadow flashed through the mottled tree shadows like a ghost, moving so fast that even the secret guards remained oblivious.
Su Wantang moved like a weightless shadow, or perhaps a silent cat, weaving her way to the study of Prince Ding, Zhao Cheng.
Her figure vanished suddenly, then she reappeared, hanging upside down from the eaves. After listening intently, she reached out slowly, then pushed the door open with lightning speed and slipped inside.
Moments later, having retrieved what she wanted, Su Wantang transformed back into a ghostly figure and flew back… returning to Cuiwei Pavilion just before two patrols of servants passed each other by.
She drifted lightly in through the window. Xiao Tao, who had been sleeping in the outer room, opened her eyes, relaxed instantly upon hearing a few faint knocks, turned over, and let out a soft snore.
Su Wantang’s lips curled up. She changed quickly, rolling up her thin, soft night-traveling clothes and stuffing them into a pouch hidden in the secret pocket of her inner garment before lying down on the bed.
As she lay down, she glanced at her injured shoulder. When she had been tangled in passion with Zhao Xuanzhen earlier, she had acted as if she couldn’t move, yet now, having completed a ghostly excursion, the wound remained completely undisturbed…
Su Wantang closed her eyes contentedly.
First, there had been the assassination diversion during the day, then the intentional wounding, and after that, the reckless encounter with Zhao Xuanzhen. Now, after going out once more, Su Wantang was truly exhausted.
This was a rare, stable, and safe place, with Xiao Tao keeping watch outside. She quickly fell into a deep, sound sleep.
The next morning, as soon as Xiao Tao finished helping Su Wantang get dressed, a messenger came from Minghui Court to invite her to breakfast.
Su Wantang’s shoulder injury did not hinder her walking, so Xiao Tao supported her as they headed to Minghui Court.
Zhao Xuanzhen and Su Huajin were already at breakfast. When a servant announced Su Wantang’s arrival, they looked up instinctively, and their eyes lit up.
Su Wantang was wearing a skirt made of moon-white silk, layered under a translucent light-pink gauze shirt. The cuffs and collar were embroidered with clusters of delicate begonia blossoms. As the breeze blew, the gauze shirt fluttered, revealing her embroidered shoes of the same color beneath the hem.
Her black hair was styled into an elegant double-bun, with two fresh white jasmine flowers pinned at her temples, still damp with morning dew… Zhao Xuanzhen suddenly realized that Su Wantang’s attire had always been incredibly simple.
Even her earrings were just small silver pendants; she wore nothing of value on her person.
Yet, because of her overly exquisite and alluring face, people rarely noticed her attire. Perhaps because of her injury today, her lips were paler than usual, which complemented her simple outfit perfectly, finally allowing him to see it.
Su Huajin smiled, wearing an expression of magnanimous love: “Wantang is here, sit down and have breakfast.”
Since arriving at the Prince’s mansion, Su Wantang had always stood by to serve Su Huajin. Now that Su Huajin was deliberately acting concerned, Su Wantang put on a look of being flattered, thanked her, and carefully sat beside her sister.
Just then, Su Huajin seemed to remember something. She turned to Zhao Xuanzhen and smiled: “Heir, didn’t you say yesterday that my sister was loyal and brave, and that you wanted to reward her? Could it be that you forgot?”
Zhao Xuanzhen replied: “She should indeed be rewarded. You handle the arrangements.”
Su Huajin smiled sweetly: “A batch of items was sent from the palace a few days ago, including a mutton-fat jade pendant with inlaid kingfisher feathers. Why not give that to Wantang as a reward for her loyalty?”
Zhao Xuanzhen did not care and replied indifferently: “As you wish.”
Su Huajin’s smile deepened.
Although the pendant was made of fine mutton-fat jade, it was of a standardized design from the Palace Imperial Household Department, intended for rewarding loyal servants. While valuable, it was a trinket for subordinates; even a favored concubine would never be given such a thing.
Zhao Xuanzhen had agreed without hesitation, showing that in his eyes, Su Wantang was nothing more than a slave, lower even than a concubine.
Soon, Cuihuan brought out the pendant.
Su Huajin handed it directly to Su Wantang: “This is to reward your loyalty. Wantang, why don’t you thank the Heir?”
Zhao Xuanzhen looked up to see Su Wantang holding the pendant, her eyes bright with joy, her eyes crinkling as she beamed at him: “Thank you, brother-in-law.”
The term triggered images he shouldn’t be thinking about. He took a sip of soup and hummed indifferently. He was about to look away when he inadvertently noticed the style of the jade pendant in Su Wantang’s hand.
He hadn’t been paying attention when Su Huajin mentioned it, but he now realized that what she had given Su Wantang was an item used to reward subordinates.
She was treating Su Wantang like a servant…
Zhao Xuanzhen’s lips parted, but seeing Su Wantang’s pure joy while clutching the pendant, he felt there was no need to say anything.
She was just a foolish creature who had never seen the world, unaware that the pendant in her hand was a reward for servants. If she was happy, let her be.
After breakfast, Su Wantang returned to Cuiwei Pavilion with a pale face to recuperate.
Because of her involvement with Helian Rong, the Emperor had ordered Zhao Xuanzhen to stay home and reflect on his mistakes while writing a letter of apology. With nothing to do in his study, he remembered how ecstatic Su Wantang had been over the servant’s reward and became curious about how she had been raised.
She was, after all, a daughter of a Marquis, and even if she was born to a concubine and raised away from home, she shouldn’t be this ignorant.
Zhao Xuanzhen was highly trusted by the Emperor. In addition to his military power, he commanded a team of “Fish-Dragon Guards.” He ordered them to investigate Su Wantang.
The results were on his desk within two days. Only then did Zhao Xuanzhen learn that what Su Huajin called being “raised away from home” was actually her and her biological mother being abandoned in a farmhouse in the countryside.
Mother and daughter not only had no servants, but they also had to labor like farmhands to exchange for food and clothing… They hadn’t been raised as young ladies of a Marquis’s house at all.
No wonder her horizons were so limited…
Zhao Xuanzhen thought that perhaps Su Wantang was not bad at heart, just stupid and simple-minded. Having suffered since childhood, her vanity and desire for a better life did not seem like an unforgivable sin.
Su Wantang received the news that the Fish-Dragon Guards had arrived at the farm for a secret investigation almost immediately.
Xiao Tao frowned: “Could Zhao Xuanzhen be suspicious of you, Miss?”
Su Wantang found it amusing: “He’s suspicious of me before I’ve even done anything? Is he a god?”
Xiao Tao was confused: “Then why is he investigating you?”
Su Wantang curled her lips: “Curiosity, I suppose.”
Xiao Tao pouted, thinking of her mistress having to go and see Zhao Xuanzhen, and couldn’t help but feel heart-wrenched: “The Miss is about to suffer again…”
Su Wantang, who was drinking tea, almost choked.
She wanted to say there was nothing to suffer; although Zhao Xuanzhen was a scoundrel, the physique he had forged in the military was not something most people possessed.
But since Xiao Tao was still a naive girl, Su Wantang said nothing more, coughed lightly, and said: “It’s all for the greater plan… a little suffering is fine.”
Xiao Tao sniffled, feeling extremely heartbroken…