“General Song, Miss Liu, please watch your step and follow this servant this way.”
The mansion steward guided the two, but not along the path they had come.
Song Tingchen paused mid-step.
He suddenly stood still in the deep courtyard where the chill was rather biting. His gaze fell upon the snow-laden bamboo branches before shifting to land on Lu Zhiheng.
Song Tingchen furrowed his brow slightly, his voice carried by the north wind into the snow-covered ground.
“His Highness Prince Chen seems to be rushing us off.”
Given his usual temperament, he would never have spoken such words today.
Yet at this moment, an inexplicable suffocating feeling surged in Song Tingchen’s chest. Looking at the green bamboo in the courtyard, he suddenly didn’t want to leave just like that.
Lu Zhiheng maintained his usual composure, gently fanning himself with a folding fan as he spoke unhurriedly, “General Song misunderstands.”
“Earlier when I hadn’t arrived, you two were already thinking of leaving. I know General Song has always preferred to come and go alone, and I don’t wish to impose.”
The rustling wind shook snow from the branches, deepening Song Tingchen’s frown.
It was true that he preferred solitude, but hearing these words from Lu Zhiheng’s mouth felt indescribably strange.
Yet there was no real need for him to argue with the other man.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, a misty green figure appeared in his peripheral vision. Song Tingchen’s gaze halted, unexpectedly meeting the slender woman whose posture resembled green bamboo.
Song Tingchen’s expression stiffened, his face instantly covered with frost that could only be matched by the icy landscape around them.
He looked expressionlessly at Su Tan.
The warmth in his eyes gradually faded, his gaze turning cold and sharp as he looked at her. “So the honored guest of Chen Wang Mansion is you.”
No wonder Prince Chen had wanted to hurriedly send him away like dispelling a plague upon hearing the words “Miss Su.”
Prince Chen turned his fan sideways to watch the snow. Su Tan’s early arrival was unexpected to him.
He hadn’t intended for these two to meet, yet they had still encountered each other like this.
Liu Qingyin nearly broke her fingernails, a deep, sharp glint flashing in her eyes.
The honored guest of Prince Chen was actually Su Tan?
How could this be?!
This woman was merely a divorced woman whom even her son and husband wanted nothing to do with – how could she possibly deserve to be treated as an honored guest by Prince Chen?!
Liu Qingyin clutched her handkerchief, forcibly suppressing her anger as she adopted a delicate posture. Her tone carried careful hesitation, as if she were quite afraid of Su Tan. “Sister Su Tan, so you know His Highness Prince Chen?”
“But why haven’t I heard you mention this before?”
Song Tingchen radiated a low pressure around him, his expression excessively cold and stern.
She had returned to the capital, first paying respects to her deceased parents, then coming to visit Prince Chen.
Yet she had never once considered visiting the General’s Residence!
Su Tan remained expressionless, her embroidered shoes crushing a patch of fresh snow as she passed by the two of them and walked toward Prince Chen.
Her gaze settled on Lu Zhiheng holding the folding fan, her eyes carrying a questioning look. When the Chen Wang Mansion servants had found her using her master’s jade token, they said Princess Zhaoyang had been ill for a long time without recovery, possibly haunted by some evil spirit. “How is the princess doing?”
“The princess has taken the medicine I gave her and is much better now.”
Liu Qingyin gripped her handkerchief, maintaining her delicate posture though her eyes revealed a hint of pride. “Sister Su Tan, please don’t look at me like that.”
“Although I don’t know medicine, that Danyao was left to me by my father – it’s a Soul Return Pill made by the Worry-Free Divine Doctor.”
Su Tan couldn’t be bothered with Liu Qingyin’s pretentious posturing.
Her gaze fell upon Lu Zhiheng, and seeing him nod, her brow instantly furrowed. No one understood better than her that the Worry-Free Divine Doctor’s Soul Return Pill would have absolutely no effect on Princess Zhaoyang’s condition. “Take me to see the Junzhu.”
She had originally planned to come tomorrow.
But after returning from Huguo Temple earlier, Cui Wan had informed her that Princess Zhaoyang’s condition was critical. Judging by the divination signs, it appeared extremely dangerous.
Delays risked unforeseen changes. Su Tan feared that if she waited until tomorrow evening to come, some irreparable mistake might occur, which was why she had rushed over urgently.
Now that Princess Zhaoyang’s fever had suddenly subsided, it didn’t necessarily indicate a positive turn.
Lu Zhiheng paused, though he didn’t understand Su Tan’s intentions, he hadn’t traveled thousands of miles to invite her here just to reject her requests. “Mm.”
Song Tingchen’s eyebrows were tightly knitted, as if beyond his control, he blocked her path.
Regarding his own inappropriate behavior, Song Tingchen merely flashed a dark glint in his eyes before his gaze turned icy cold the next moment.
“Your information network is quite efficient. You just returned to the capital and already know that Princess Zhaoyang is ill.”
Someone else’s daughter, yet she keeps her so close to heart.
What about her own son?
For three years she showed no concern, yet upon returning to the capital, she mercilessly pushed Xiao Xiao to the ground without hesitation.
Song Tingchen radiated a low pressure around him, his expression perplexed. He truly couldn’t understand how there could be a mother as heartless as Su Tan in this world. “In your eyes, what exactly does Xiao Xiao count as?”
Liu Qingyin stood weakly beside Song Tingchen.
Mentioning Song Xiao’s name, tears even welled up in her eyes.
“Sister Su Tan, Xiao Xiao is so pitiful. Everyone laughs at him for not having a mother. He doesn’t say it aloud, but he cries even in his sleep at night.”
“When you weren’t back before, it was one thing. Now that you’ve returned, could you at least go see him? I’m begging you.”
Song Tingchen stared coldly at Su Tan. “Su Tan, come back with me.”
Su Tan’s gaze was as clear and cold as mountain snow. Hearing this, she only let out a short, cold laugh.
“You ask me what Song Xiao counts as in my eyes?”
When Song Xiao was born, his body was weaker than a kitten’s, where the slightest mishap could cost him his life.
She had dissipated nearly seventy percent of her cultivation and Merit, using countless rare medicinal herbs combined with her own fortune to nourish him, all to exchange for a healthy body for Song Xiao.
Yet the first thing he did after recovering was to join forces with Song Tingchen in hostility, viewing her as a venomous snake who heartlessly tried to force Liu Qingyin to her death.
“Song Tingchen, back then Song Xiao personally said he wanted Liu Qingyin to be his mother, not me. There’s no need for you to bring him up before me now.”
“Moreover, earlier at Huguo Temple, he even wanted to smash his maternal grandfather’s Changming Lantern to vent anger for Liu Qingyin.”
Hearing Su Tan’s cold tone, Song Tingchen felt suffocated in his heart, as if crushed by a great mountain.
He looked at her expressionlessly. “Su Tan, don’t regret this.”
He had given her chances.
If only her temperament weren’t so extreme, if she would just say a few kind words and stop repeatedly targeting Qingyin, Xiao Xiao wouldn’t refuse to acknowledge his own birth mother.
Liu Qingyin wiped her tears. “Sister Su Tan, you—”
Before she could finish, Prince Chen had wiped all expression from his face. His voice was calm and even, yet it made Liu Qingyin’s heart tighten. “This is Chen Wang Mansion.”
“Today I invited Grandmaster Su here not to listen to your arguments.”
“General Song and Miss Liu, if you have no other business, please return.”
After speaking, he no longer paid attention to these two individuals, instead turning his face toward Su Tan and briefly explaining Princess Zhaoyang’s condition.
“Although the fever has subsided, her spirits haven’t improved. I’m still somewhat concerned.”
“It would be more reassuring if you examined her personally.”
“Your Highness!” Liu Qingyin nearly choked on her breath. If even the Worry-Free Divine Doctor’s medicine couldn’t satisfy Prince Chen, what worth did Su Tan possess? She clutched her handkerchief tightly, yet her expression grew increasingly delicate. “Although Sister Su Tan has some rudimentary medical knowledge—”
“But the Junzhu is precious as gold and jade. If even the imperial physicians are helpless, and the Worry-Free Divine Doctor’s Danyao has no effect, then Sister Su Tan would be even more powerless.”
Lu Zhiheng’s gaze fell upon her, and he suddenly smiled. “Miss Liu, are you instructing this prince on how to conduct affairs?”
Liu Qingyin trembled. Though Prince Chen appeared exceptionally captivating when he smiled, she detected an undercurrent of danger.
She nearly bit through her lip, casting an unwilling glance at Su Tan, whose posture resembled graceful bamboo, before finally lowering her head with a choked, aggrieved tone.
Kneeling in the snow, her slender frame swayed precariously. “This humble girl wouldn’t dare.”
Song Tingchen’s brow furrowed so deeply it seemed tied in knots.
He reached out to help Liu Qingyin up, draping his cloak over her shoulders, but his gaze remained intently fixed on Su Tan.
At that moment, a young maid serving in the Junzhu’s courtyard came running over, wiping her tears. With a thud, her knees sank into the snow.
“Your Highness!”
Trembling from head to toe, the maid spoke in tearful, broken phrases: “The Junzhu… has a high fever again. The imperial physicians… are at their wits’ end. They say—”