As she spoke, Leng Yue’er sat up briskly. The warm, golden light inside the heated chamber fell across her doll-like face, highlighting her peach-blossom eyes until they looked unusually bright and clear, stripping away much of the cold sharpness expected of a shadow guard.
Minghai flinched again at the sight. He instinctively clutched his chest and took two steps back, eyes full of caution, as though she might kill him the next moment.
“His Highness should rest for one more day today. Tomorrow, we begin recognizing medicinal herbs. If you don’t understand anything, just refer to that booklet,” Leng Yue’er said, glancing at the visibly unsettled Minghai. Her tone was calm and without the slightest ripple, as if his panic meant nothing at all.
For the next three days, things remained unusually peaceful. Leng Yue’er gradually discovered that Pei Qingmin had a rare talent for medicine. With only a little guidance, he could infer patterns on his own. When recognizing herbs, he focused with great concentration, his fingers lightly pinching the medicinal plants with an attentiveness that made him look far less frail, even saving her a great deal of effort.
So she simply stopped interfering altogether. While Pei Qingmin sat at the desk studying herbs, she worked on the side, grinding and mixing ingredients to refine new poisons. Occasionally, they exchanged a few casual words, and the atmosphere in the warm chamber became unexpectedly calm.
On the sixth day after the Qixi Festival, just after noon, a faint fragrance of locust blossoms drifted outside the chamber. Leng Yue’er leaned by the window, absentmindedly tracing the medicine pouch at her waist as she stared at the willow branches outside, unusually lost in thought.
Pei Qingmin sat at the desk, holding a medicinal herb between his fingers. When he looked up, he happened to catch her distracted expression. Her doll-like face already made her appear young, and now with her peach-blossom eyes half-lowered and the usual coldness gone, she looked almost gentle and obedient, nothing like a shadow guard who had taken lives before. A trace of surprise flickered in his heart.
After some time, Leng Yue’er came back to her senses and glanced at him. The moment of distraction vanished, and her usual indifference returned.
“Stop staring and get back to work,” she said, then casually dropped herself onto the other side of the desk. She picked up a mortar and began grinding herbs again, resuming her work of preparing poison.
“…Do you have something on your mind?” Pei Qingmin hesitated before asking. He did not expect her to answer honestly, as she had always been guarded.
“I?” Leng Yue’er let out a cold laugh. “Joke. I don’t have time for such things.” In her life, nothing had ever been enough to become a “worry.” If violence could not solve it, then poison would. What room was there for sentimental troubles?
After a pause, Pei Qingmin asked again, “Then what were you doing those nights during the Qixi Festival? You left several times. What exactly were you doing?”
“I?” Leng Yue’er raised an eyebrow. “Watching the excitement, of course.”
“Watching the excitement?” Pei Qingmin froze, clearly not expecting that answer. His confusion deepened.
“The lantern sea at Qixi?” he asked again.
“No! Just ordinary people making a mess of things,” Leng Yue’er replied seriously.
“What was there to watch?” he asked, still puzzled.
“If you want to hear it, I’ll tell you,” she said after a moment’s thought. Since she would still need to borrow his identity to go watch future excitement, there was no harm in telling him.
So she began recounting everything.
The three Qu Sisters boarded Young Master Wang’s flower boat, which had once “saved” Fourth Miss Qu Moying. They later disembarked at a flower platform. Eldest Sister Qu attempted to sabotage Qu Moying by pushing her off the boat so that Young Master Wang could rescue her, thereby ruining her reputation. Unfortunately, things went awry. Qu Moying did not fall. Instead, Leng Yue’er herself was knocked into the river when Prince Xun’s vessel collided with them, and it was Young Master Wang who ended up rescuing her.
Frustrated, she tearfully complained to Cousin Xiao, who was enraged and drove Qu Qiuyan away. After that, they needed to return to their carriage, but it was too far. They did not want to take Young Master Wang’s boat again, just then another vessel that had collided with them arrived.
Someone invited them aboard. Seeing that it was an eunuch’s ship, Eldest Sister Qu suddenly had other ideas and eagerly went aboard without hesitation. She even changed clothes without reservation. In the end, both she and her cousin were sent back down.
Eldest Sister Qu was unhappy, but there was nothing she could do.
Leng Yue’er paused to take a sip of water. Seeing that Pei Qingmin was listening intently, she continued.
“Qu Moying, Prince Xun, and the Crown Prince all hung paired Qixi lanterns. The Crown Prince and County Lady Jingyu also hung one together. Before that, County Lady Jingyu had already met Eldest Sister Qu.”
“Then she was bumped into by that Young Master Wang again. He even recognized a maid by her side, and things escalated until someone was arrested.”
“The Crown Prince’s lantern caught fire. The damaged lantern was placed below. Then Consort Jing arrived to view the lanterns and happened to catch Eldest Sister Qu trying to take the Crown Prince’s lantern. Her people stopped her, a fight broke out, and she was struck. At that moment, her elder brother arrived and pushed Consort Jing, causing her to fall. That made things escalate further.”
“And after that, when I came back, I ran into you stopping Fourth Miss Qu…”
She stopped there and smiled faintly at him.
Pei Qingmin turned away and took a deep breath, then another, before finally looking back.
“….” He was momentarily speechless. The series of events she described was so coherent, with clear timing, locations, and people, it felt as though she had known everything would happen in advance.
“What happened after that?” he could not help asking.
“The rest is already known. Ask Minghai,” Leng Yue’er replied lazily. She had talked too much today and was tired.
Then she added, “Get a pass to Princess Changyu’s gathering. There will be more excitement there.”
“Mm,” Pei Qingmin only managed a response before she lay down again, clearly ready to sleep.
He sighed helplessly but said nothing. He rose and covered her with a thin blanket before stepping out of the chamber, with Minghai following behind him.
“Tell me what interesting rumors are circulating outside recently,” he asked.
“Your Highness means?”
“Just speak.”
Minghai hesitated before organizing his thoughts.
“Most of the rumors outside are about the Qu family’s Eldest Miss. Some of them are… rather unpleasant.”
He continued carefully, explaining that Qu Qiuyan had fallen into the water while being held by a man, and many people had witnessed it. The incident spread quickly and became scandalous gossip.
People were now speculating whether she would marry that man. Others were discussing how she had clashed with a consort of the Crown Prince’s residence, possibly over the Qixi lantern incident.
There were also rumors about County Lady Jingyu possibly becoming Crown Princess, and whether she had deliberately caused the commotion to secure the engagement.
The Crown Prince’s past devotion to the late Crown Princess was also being questioned, with people remarking how quickly he seemed to have moved on.
Some even said Qu Qiuyan might enter monastic life and never marry.
As they finished their round of the courtyard, Pei Qingmin suddenly felt that after walking, his body seemed lighter. The tightness in his chest had eased, and remarkably, he had not coughed even once.