If Mingyi was only eighteen years old six years later, an eighteen-year-old young lady and a twenty-three-year-old truly showed no discernible difference, so what need did she have to lie?
Or could it be that her age would expose something? The appearances of a twelve-year-old and a seventeen-year-old were indeed vastly different. Had she been hiding in the mountains all this time, avoiding people, out of fear that someone would discover she was not born in the thirteenth year of Jianping, but rather the eighteenth year of Jianping?
She must have mistaken her for someone else. This was not Mingyi; she was simply yearning so desperately to find someone that she saw Mingyi in everyone.
As Lu Huiyi thought to herself in disarray, the Buddhist nun noticed something and looked over at Lu Huiyi, their gazes meeting in mid-air.
It was merely a chance encounter. Lu Huiyi withdrew her gaze and thought no more of it, while the nun also withdrew her gaze and blended back into the crowd.
Today, Old Lady Kou was ascending the mountain simply because Xiayuan Festival was approaching, and she wanted to pray to the Buddha for the Lu family’s future path.
Shouyang was going to pay her respects to her parents, who had passed away many years ago. Coming along to Jueyun Peak this time was both to visit her parents’ memorial niches here and to pray for the Empress Dowager.
The weather was turning cold as winter approached. The climate in Songyang was not as bitterly freezing as the north, but for elderly people, one could never let down their guard; the Empress Dowager’s health had been growing worse by the year. Only Lu Huiyi knew that the Empress Dowager would pass away in the spring of the thirty-sixth year of Jianping, just as the severe winter came to an end.
Lu Zhenyi had been left behind on the mountain. Feeling aggrieved, she leaned against a tree, pulling aimlessly at leaves while Hanxiao stood by her side with a smile, trying to coax her into a better mood.
“Young Mistress, I think staying on the mountain isn’t bad at all. Every day you get to go to the side hall to listen to stories, and by the twelfth lunar month, the Master will send someone to bring you home.”
Lu Zhenyi grew irritated just looking at her, unable to tell whether she was blaming Hanxiao or herself: “Isn’t this all your fault for having a slow tongue and failing to outargue Lu Huiyi? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had to stay on the mountain and even dragged Minor Auntie down with me.”
Suddenly spotting a familiar figure, Lu Zhenyi grabbed Hanxiao and hid behind a tree.
Hanxiao asked in a low whisper, “Young Mistress, who did you see?”
“It is Prince Jing. And they said there was no illicit affair. Even this paramour has followed us all the way to Jueyun Peak.”
Hanxiao craned her neck trying to get a clear look at Prince Jing’s appearance, but Du Xingtong, who was walking right behind Prince Jing, suddenly turned around and glared with a gaze as sharp as a knife, startling Lu Zhenyi and Hanxiao into retreating repeatedly and daring not peer any further.
“Ouch.”
“I am truly sorry. Did the Young Mistress get hurt?”
As Lu Zhenyi retreated, she accidentally knocked down a young Buddhist nun, who happened to be the exact same person Lu Huiyi had noticed inside the room earlier.
Seeing this scene, Du Xingtong wanted to rush forward with his blade drawn, but Prince Jing pressed a hand down on him with quick reflexes, shook his head without a word, and the two of them continued down the mountain.
The Buddhist nun was helped up by Lu Zhenyi and Hanxiao from either side, and she waved her hand to say she was fine: “I see that the Young Mistress has sorrow lingering between her brows that will not disperse, and your aura carries the presence of evil spirits. Has there been some bizarre ghost-related incident in your household recently?”
Lu Zhenyi immediately thought of the story of soul-substitution she had just heard, grasping the Buddhist nun’s hand as if she had finally found a lifeline: “Little Nun, is there really such a thing as soul-substitution or spirit possession in this world?”
Neither confirming nor denying it, the Buddhist nun spoke in a mysterious tone: “The world is vast and full of wonders.”
“I will not conceal it from the Master, this believer has indeed encountered a bizarre matter. There is a young lady in my family who was always timid and submissive, but after accidentally falling into the water and waking up once, she seemed like a completely different person. Her sharp and witty tongue has won her the deep affection of the family elders. The only one suffering is me, for ever since then, nothing I do goes right.”
“Judging by the Young Mistress’s words, this is a powerful and wicked spirit. It took advantage of her vulnerability when she fell into the water to forcibly seize her body. However, what the exact situation is requires a personal visit to the household to perform rituals.”
Hearing that rituals were required, Lu Zhenyi looked at the Buddhist nun’s petite stature. The other party was simply too young to be easily convincing.
Seeing through Lu Zhenyi’s thoughts, the Buddhist nun said something to dispel her worries: “If we are to perform rituals, naturally we must invite a reputable Taoist priestess from the monastery. I am still too young to shoulder such a major undertaking.”
“Well said, well said. I wonder how the Master is addressed?” Lu Zhenyi affectionately pulled the Buddhist nun inside the room to discuss the details.
Only a single sentence lingered behind in the wind: “Young Mistress may call me Mingyi.”
Lu Huiyi felt as though she had heard someone speaking, and she lifted the carriage curtain to look outside, but there was clearly no one out there.
“Young Mistress, is something the matter? If we do not head down the mountain soon, it will be dark shortly.”
Lu Huiyi shook her head, suspecting she had simply misheard.
After the Xiayuan Festival came the twentieth birthday of the Princess Consort Xing, as well as the hundred-day milestone of Prince Xing’s eldest legitimate son. As the heads of the Lu household, Old Master Lu and Old Lady Kou found it inconvenient to have overly deep contact with imperial princes. Only the Second Master and Lu Qizheng went from the male side of the Lu family, while Madam Qu led Madam Shu and Lu Huiyi to represent the female family members, striking a balance that was neither overly intimate nor dismissive.
The seating arrangements for male guests and female guests were separated into different sections by several folding screens.
Just as the Lu family members were being guided by servants to separate paths, Lu Qizheng was still lingering affectionately, talking to Madam Shu, and before leaving, he did not forget to pull Lu Huiyi aside and say: “Mengze, Huiniang is in delicate health. I entrust her to your good care.”
Mengze was Madam Shu’s maiden name. Smiling, Shu Mengze agreed and told Lu Qizheng not to worry, whereupon Lu Qizheng walked away looking back every three steps.
The other young ladies of the household had not come along. Lu Huiyi had begged Old Master Lu, explaining that she had a major misunderstanding with Prince Jing during her previous visit to the palace and wished to take this opportunity at the Xingwang Manor to clear things up.
In truth, she had no intention whatsoever of seeking out Prince Jing; she wanted to avoid him more than anything.
Before she had even taken her seat, Shouyang, who had arrived earlier than the Lu family members, rushed forward and pulled Lu Huiyi off to speak in private.
From the moment she stepped through the gates of the Xingwang Manor, Lu Huiyi felt a flood of complex emotions. Who would have thought that a month ago, after her defeat, she would swallow poison here and burn down the Xingwang Manor along with all the people she had plotted against? In the blink of an eye, the sun and moon had reversed course, and she had returned to the past to step foot once more into this familiar residence.
Every architectural layout and winding path within the Xingwang Manor, not only the backyard where Lu Huiyi had once lived, but even the front courtyard, was intimately familiar to her.
What started as Shouyang pulling Lu Huiyi a few paces toward the courtyard quickly turned into Lu Huiyi leading the way.
Filled with curiosity, Shouyang asked her how she came to know the layout of the Xingwang Manor.
Telling her to keep her voice down, Lu Huiyi leaned close to her ear and murmured, “Since I am here to help you, Sister, naturally I had to inquire about everything in detail.”
Taking another two or three steps forward, the two of them stopped by the edge of a lake.
This spot was neither too close nor too far from the banquet area, allowing people to see that someone was talking here while remaining too far away to overhear what was actually being said.
After waiting for a short while, Prince Yu, who had noticed Shouyang’s presence, indeed strode over. Lu Huiyi curtsied behind Shouyang and excused herself, claiming that members of the Lu family were looking for her and leaving first.
This time when she came to the Xingwang Manor, Lu Huiyi had brought Chuntao along. When Lu Huiyi stepped away, she held Chuntao’s hand as they walked off. After going just a few paces, rounding a small rockery out of sight from Shouyang and Prince Yu, Lu Huiyi came to a halt and went no further.
Signaling Chuntao to remain quiet, Lu Huiyi took a couple of small dried fish she had brought from the Lu household out of her pouch and placed them on a handkerchief.
The Princess Consort Xing had a dearly beloved fat cat that had lived for over ten years, and she had been heartbroken when it passed away. Lu Huiyi had fed this fat cat quite often back in the Xingwang Manor. It was terribly greedy, growing close to whoever fed it food, and would always sneak off to the kitchens to look for the Prince.
Within a few breaths, a fat cat with orange tabby stripes indeed appeared. It cautiously approached, and realizing Lu Huiyi meant it no harm, drew closer to sniff the scent of the dried fish on the handkerchief. It trotted over, sniffed for a moment, trotted away again, and only after repeating this back-and-forth a few times did it snatch away a piece.
Lu Huiyi patiently waited for it to finish eating piece after piece, until it finally rolled over on the ground in satisfaction. Tentatively reaching out, Lu Huiyi gently stroked the downy fur on its head, and seeing that it showed no signs of resistance, she took out another piece to feed it.
This cat had always been bold; without further ado, it pounced forward and leaped right into Lu Huiyi’s arms, trying to paw at the pouch containing the dried fish.
Lu Huiyi had been waiting precisely for this moment. Executing her movements cleanly and decisively, she stood up straight holding the fat cat and walked away.
At this time, Prince Yu genuinely wished to marry Shouyang. Although the former Marquis of Guangping had passed away many years ago and the current Marquis of Guangping was hiding in the mountains and staying out of the public eye, one had to remember that many of the commanding generals of the current State of Yue were former subordinates of the late Marquis. Out of respect for the late Marquis, they would all show a measure of deference to County Princess Shouyang.
Prince Yu’s maternal clan, the Heis, were entirely ordinary with no influential figures in the court. Later on, he attached himself to Noble Consort Wei and the Wei family, gaining the support of the civil officials under Grand Secretary Wei. At this moment, he figured that if he could also win the backing of military generals, the succession to the throne would surely be within his grasp.
As he thought this, so did the Emperor. In her past life, after Shouyang entered Prince Yu’s manor, the Emperor’s suspicions gradually deepened. Not only did Prince Yu fail to receive the expected heavy responsibilities, but he was also deliberately sidelined, even though Shouyang had no connection whatsoever to those generals.
Prince Yu attributed all his frustrations and lack of advancement to Shouyang’s inability to connect him with those generals. Grievance and vexation compounded within him until, fists fueled by rage, beat down upon her like a torrential storm.
Could it be that among the four princes, none had ties with the military official faction? Naturally, there were. To be sure, the maternal clan of the Fourth Prince, Prince Shen, the Lü family of the Duke of Zhenguo, had earned their military merits on the battlefields. Yet Prince Shen was weak and incompetent, and had furthermore married a peace-bringing princess from the Khotan tribe of the Western Regions, dooming him to spend his entire life as a wealthy, idle nobleman.
Prince Yu was discussing marriage matters with Shouyang at this moment. Not only did the Empress Dowager think their match was a good one, but even the Emperor had nodded in approval and was currently sounding out Consort Li’s intentions.
Prince Yu said with a gentle veneer: “They say marriage is decided by the orders of parents and the words of a matchmaker, but this is the most momentous affair of my cousin’s life, and I wish to hear my cousin’s own opinion.”
With a displeased expression, Shouyang looked out over the freezing, mist-covered surface of the early winter lake. Sorrow and the chill rising off the water seemed to emanate from her in equal measure: “My parents passed away when I was very young, so with the Empress Dowager and His Majesty looking out for me, Shouyang is already deeply grateful beyond measure. Naturally I have no objections of my own and will submit entirely to the wishes of the Consort and His Majesty.”
Seizing the opportunity, Prince Yu asked: “I wonder if little cousin still remembers what your parents looked like?”
When Shouyang’s parents passed away, she was only three years old, so she naturally shook her head and said she did not remember.
Prince Yu then asked: “Did any former relatives or friends ever speak to you about what the two elders were like when they were alive? After all, they were your biological parents; it must be hard not to miss them.”
Not understanding why Prince Yu was suddenly taking an interest in her long-deceased parents, Shouyang twisted her handkerchief and replied: “Only the Empress Dowager and my maternal grandmother of the Lu family occasionally mention them to me. Fourteen years have already passed since then, and none of my parents’ relatives or friends from back then are still in contact with us nowadays.”
Hearing her say this, Prince Yu realized that the former subordinates of the late Marquis of Guangping had no ongoing connection with the Marquis of Guangping’s estate, and his heart sank with profound disappointment.
As the two of them were talking, a massive orange tabby fat cat lunged forward in a flying leap. Prince Yu abhorred long-haired beasts of this sort; seized with panic, he let out an angry roar and swung his arm, violently batting the cat down.
To everyone’s shock, Shouyang also stumbled and fell backward into the lake during the commotion. To anyone watching, it looked precisely as though Prince Yu had pushed Shouyang into the water.
Hearing Shouyang’s cry, Shouyang’s good friend Lu Huiyi was the first to arrive on the scene, kicking up a huge fuss: “Come quickly! County Princess Shouyang has fallen into the water! Someone save her quickly!”
Lu Huiyi’s maid, Chuntao, even went running all the way back toward the guest seating area, shouting at the top of her lungs that Prince Yu had pushed the County Princess into the water.
Only then did Prince Yu realize he had completely botched things. By this time, it was far too late to cover it up; all the guests attending the banquet had seen it and heard it.
He wanted to jump into the lake to rescue Shouyang, but the winter lake water was bone-chillingly cold. When he took off his shoes and socks to test the water with his foot, the freezing temperature shocked him into scrambling right back onto the bank.
With a loud splash, someone else beat him to it and plunged straight into the lake.