In speaking and acting, one must pay attention to context and propriety; a bit too much and people will say it is too fake, a bit too little and they will say it lacks sincerity.
How to make Concubine Jia truly convinced indeed required a bit of maneuvering.
As expected, Lü Yanghua could not come up with what to do.
Under their mutual silence, she blinked her eyes slowly. “What if I just tell her directly…”
“Noble Lady Jia will likely think you have gone mad and have you thrown out directly,” Song Heting said, unsurprised by her suggestion and laying bare the truth without mercy.
“Then what should we do?”
“Princess Jingyi is pure and kind-hearted. It would be better for Noble Lady to start with her.” The Princess Jingyi he spoke of was Jia Baohe’s daughter, the four-year-old Zhao Zhaoing.
“I am playing mind games with a little child—can she even understand?” Lü Yanghua’s voice grew smaller and smaller under Song Heting’s serene gaze. Then, as if she could no longer bear it, she slapped the table and asked him fiercely, “What are you acting like a smart person for, hiding things from me? Speak the truth at once!”
Seeing her straightforward manner—no different from a child’s—Song Heting thought it was all too fitting for her to play with Zhao Zhaoing. He said, “When Concubine Jia sees that Noble Lady is on good terms with her dearest kin, she will naturally lower her guard against you.”
“But I don’t know how to coax children.”
“Leave this matter to me.”
After the two plotted it out, in less than two days, Princess Jingyi fell right into their design along the path she was bound to take for her outings.
The path after the heavy snow was very difficult to walk, but Jingyi was someone who could not sit still. She would not let people hold her, preferring the feeling of her feet sinking completely into the soft snow. Running up ahead, her tiny figure was closely watched by several palace servants arranged by Jia Baohe, who feared anything might go wrong with her.
Lü Yanghua held a stack of paper-cuts, gesturing in front of the pavilion, while speaking to Song Heting beside her: “Concubine Jia really treasures this daughter of hers.”
Song Heting adjusted the angle for her, setting the paper-cut straight. As he bent down, he opened his mouth to say: “Having lost her unborn child and also lost favor, she naturally poured all her affection onto her only daughter.”
“That is true.” Lü Yanghua swallowed the rest of her sentence, for Jingyi had walked over.
“Are you sticking up window decorations?” The little girl’s voice was soft and immature. She ran over excitedly, charging into Lü Yanghua’s field of vision like a little round ball.
Her eyes then shone brightly as her hands clutched the edge of the table to look at Lü Yanghua. Once she clearly saw Lü Yanghua’s face, her mouth opened wide, as if forgetting what she had wanted to say.
Lü Yanghua did not like children. There was a reason for this: her family had many concubines, brothers, and sisters. Every once in a while, a child would suddenly pop up out of nowhere. They were more favored than Lü Yanghua, so she always had to yield to them and curry favor with them.
Yet these children were spoiled like little monsters, crying, throwing tantrums, and hitting people at the slightest provocation. Lü Yanghua had suffered much hardship because she could not get along with them.
Now, seeing Jingyi’s fair and tender little face, the past she did not wish to recall surged back into her mind, making her feel annoyed. For a moment, she did not even feel like speaking.
The two remained silent for a moment before the palace servant who rushed over broke the stalemate. Recognizing Lü Yanghua, the wet nurse caring for Jingyi bowed and curtsied: “Greetings to Noble Lady Lü.”
Lü Yanghua snapped back to her senses, nodded to bid her rise, and casually asked as if by chance encounter: “Elder Sister Concubine Jia didn’t come along? With the weather cold and the roads slippery, I thought she would watch over Jingyi every step of the way.”
“Her Ladyship caught a chill and keeps coughing; she doesn’t want to pass it to the Princess.” The wet nurse smiled to explain for Jia Baohe, then said: “Originally, in this weather, Her Ladyship wouldn’t feel at ease with the Princess going out, but the Princess is used to playing outside, so we had no way around it.”
Following her gaze, Lü Yanghua looked toward Zhao Zhaoing. Without guessing, she knew that the girl must have cried and thrown a tantrum, leaving the entire palace inside and out in unrest.
Thinking like this, she felt an increasing urge to stay far away from this little girl.
Song Heting stepped back behind her, crouched down to shake out her cloak that trailed on the ground, and casually brushed against her lower leg as if by accident.
Lü Yanghua turned her head back, her ears catching a sentence: “I am shaking off the snow from Noble Lady’s clothes.”
Her eyes caught another unspoken sentence: *Don’t throw a temper here.*
This caused her full rage toward Zhao Zhaoing to have nowhere to vent. Pulling her cloak with a yank, a burst of warm fragrance brushed right against Song Heting’s face. “I don’t need you.”
She looked at the little princess who was still standing there motionless staring at her. Ultimately, she suppressed her annoyance to talk to her: “What are you staring at me for?”
“Auntie Lü.” The little princess called out to her like this, wrapping her hands around the corner of Lü Yanghua’s skirt as her warm little body leaned against her. “You are so pretty, like a fairy in a storybook.”
This single sentence made Lü Yanghua laugh. Once she laughed, all things lost their color, leaving Zhao Zhaoing utterly entranced.
Finally, Lü Yanghua was willing to give this annoying child a bit of a good attitude. Pulling Zhao Zhaoing to her side, she pointed to the circle of paper-cuts hanging around them. “Then are you willing to stay with me to play with paper-cuts?”
Seeing the two of them like this, the nearby wet nurse hurriedly wanted to step forward to stop them: “Noble Lady, this must not be allowed! How could we trouble…”
Yet she was stopped by Song Heting. Taking a step forward to block the wet nurse’s path, he smiled and replied to her: “With the weather cold and the roads slippery, what if we let the Princess run wild on the path and she falls? Now that Noble Lady is willing to keep the Princess company to play with paper-cuts, isn’t it the best of both worlds?”
“I am merely afraid of disturbing Noble Lady’s esteemed self.”
“Which of your eyes saw that my master was unwilling?” Song Heting asked back, then appeared to take a step back and said: “Or is it that you don’t feel at ease with our Noble Lady looking after the Princess?”
“This servant wouldn’t dare!” The wet nurse hurriedly knelt down to plead for forgiveness. She was an honest person; how could she contend with Song Heting?
Lü Yanghua glanced at her, picked up one of the rabbit patterns, and placed it into Zhao Zhaoing’s hands. “Since you aren’t at ease, just keep watch by the side so you have something to report back.”
This time the wet nurse did not dare refuse again. They looked at each other, and a little palace maid quietly departed to go back and report, while the remaining few people returned to Ningzhu Court together with Lü Yanghua. Zhao Zhaoing, who usually disliked being held by the hand, actually held Lü Yanghua’s finger obediently all along the way, thoroughly adoring this Noble Lady Lü.
So many people could not all crowd into the room, so only the wet nurse stayed inside to keep company. Watching the daytime turn to dusk, several hours had actually passed. They could no longer allow the Princess to stay here, otherwise it would be terrible if Noble Lady Jia blamed them.
At this moment, Zhao Zhaoing was already leaning against Lü Yanghua, loosely encircled by her as the two huddled together, cutting the exact same piece of paper.
Zhao Zhaoing held her breath, holding her small face till it turned bright red. Finally making the last cut, she could not wait to open the folded paper, and a rabbit leaped onto the paper. She turned her head happily, looked at Lü Yanghua excitedly, shoved the paper in front of her face, and said: “Is it pretty!”
Lü Yanghua nodded her head.
“Great! I am going to take it back to show Mother.”
The nearby wet nurse chimed in at the right time: “Princess, it is getting late. If you stay any longer, Her Ladyship will be worried.”
Zhao Zhaoing nodded her head and said: “Let us leave then.”
She turned her head back reluctantly to glance at Lü Yanghua, who was still sitting in the distance, and asked her: “Can I still play with you tomorrow?”
“Of course you can.”
“Then we have a deal! Tomorrow you will teach me how to cut a tiger, alright?”
Lü Yanghua nodded her head. Contented, Zhao Zhaoing bade farewell in a proper manner before leaving, and the palace servants accompanying her all dispersed in a swarm. Only the master and her two servants remained here once more.
Lanzhi silently cleared the tabletop. Song Heting took the scissors out of Lü Yanghua’s hand and rubbed her reddened fingertips, which had been pressed out of shape.
Lü Yanghua stared at her fingers as if in a daze, finally muttering a sentence: “It’s such a hassle playing with little kids.”
Lanzhi picked up the paper-cuts on the table and asked: “These are really pretty. Where does Noble Lady plan to keep them? Why don’t I stick them on the window to admire?”
Lü Yanghua hooked the corners of her mouth somewhat proudly and waved her hand. “You girl really haven’t seen the world. Since you like them, just take them to stick up. Don’t come asking me about such minor things.”
Having received permission, Lanzhi seemed very happy: “Thank you, Noble Lady!”
This interruption brought Lü Yanghua back from her thoughts. Standing up, she loosened her muscles and bones, then said: “Let it be so.”
Sitting here uselessly for a whole day had tired her to death. Yet what awaited her was not some soft and warm bed. Muddle-headedly, she sat back down in her original spot.
“Noble Lady had better learn quickly. Didn’t you promise the Princess to teach her tomorrow?”
“Even a donkey couldn’t handle your mistreatment!” Lü Yanghua slammed the scissors heavily onto the table, going straight on strike.
She stood up and called for Lanzhi: “Lanzhi, come quickly to help me change clothes! I want to rest!”
Seeing Song Heting standing by the side like an overseer, her anger flared even more. To break free from her predicament, she finally willed her head to come up with a brilliant idea: “I can’t be like this every day either. Why don’t you teach the two of us starting tomorrow?”
In this way, everything would fall onto Tingyuan’s shoulders; she wouldn’t have to learn paper-cutting, nor would she have to watch the child—truly the best of both worlds.
Song Heting saw right through her thoughts in an instant. Just as he was about to say something, Lü Yanghua before him lowered her head and rubbed her fingers, which were still completely red. Thus, the words at the tip of his tongue took a turn, and he agreed to the matter.
“Alright.”
That he agreed so readily was truly something Lü Yanghua had not expected. Pushing her luck, she handed her hand over to him and opened her mouth rather unhappily: “Look, it still hurts…”
If Song Heting didn’t move, she would keep holding it out, until he gave in, spreading his palm out to give her something to rest on before she leisurely placed it upon his.
“Noble Lady has worked hard.”
That night, after Lü Yanghua fell asleep, Song Heting sat by the bedside and applied a priceless fragrant salve over every single one of her fingers.
This thing was rare even within the palace, yet Song Heting used half a box on her as if it cost nothing.
The next day, when the princess came again, Lü Yanghua was waiting for her there. Seeing her fly over in a pounce, she caught her steadily, took her hand, and said: “Tigers are too hard; I haven’t learned yet. Let’s learn together today, will you?”
Zhao Zhaoing was naturally a hundred percent willing. As long as she could be together with Lü Yanghua, she was willing to do anything.
After that, during the daytime, Song Heting not only had to wait upon the big one, but also had to take care of the small one.
Everything—every single detail within this courtyard—was reported into a certain person’s ears.