Chapter 14#
Questioning Zhenxian Pavilion: His Highness has been doting on me lately, often…#
Pei Xiting propped his forehead against the stone wall with his left hand, lest he smash his face, while his right hand was pinned behind his back. His knee pit was also pressed down by Shangguan Jie’s knee. He struggled briefly, then gave up.
After a moment, they heard Zhao Yi panting heavily as he ran past from outside.
Shangguan Jie said viciously, “Finally got you!”
Pei Xiting was flipped over and pressed against the cliff face, his hands and feet still restrained. He frowned slightly and said, “I don’t think I’ve offended you, Young Marquis, have I?”
“Acting!” Shangguan Jie ground his teeth. “Wasn’t it you who kicked me back at Fumeng Tower? Wasn’t it you who stabbed me with a dagger? You think I’ve lost my memory?”
“I didn’t mean to.” Pei Xiting’s tone was innocent. “It’s just that you were too terrifying, Young Marquis. A timid person like me lost all composure, couldn’t control myself, even forgot my own surname—how could I have remembered anything else?”
Shangguan Jie sneered. “So it’s my fault now?”
“Isn’t it?” Pei Xiting looked at Shangguan Jie, his tone turning cold. “With so many people on the street, why did I kick you of all people? You deserved it. The honorable Young Marquis committing such vile acts of rape and violence—don’t you think the civil and military officials would laugh their teeth out?”
Shangguan Jie said angrily, “I took a fancy to you—that’s your—”
“Good fortune?” Pei Xiting couldn’t be bothered to listen to Shangguan Jie’s barking, rolling his eyes. “Want this good fortune for yourself? Or give it to Marquis Shangguan—after all, a son offering good fortune to his father counts as filial piety, doesn’t it?”
Shangguan Jie was taken aback. “…Don’t say such scary things.”
“If you don’t want to hear it, don’t come looking for trouble with me.” Pei Xiting said impatiently. “The road is wide—you go your way, I’ll go mine. Nobody’s blocking anyone.”
“Who was looking for you? I just happened to see you and wanted to ask a couple of questions. Don’t flatter yourself that I was following you.” Shangguan Jie scoffed. “Don’t put gold on your own face.”
“Oh.” Pei Xiting twisted his restrained wrist. “Then let me go quickly, so Second Brother won’t get worried if he can’t find me.”
Shangguan Jie somehow sensed a hint of mockery in that, but Pei Xiting’s expression was normal—there was no way he knew about his feelings for Jintang… He must be too paranoid.
Shangguan Jie cleared his throat and said, “When did you get so close with Jintang? He used to complain to me before, saying his own third brother wasn’t close to him as an elder brother.”
Pei Xiting said in surprise, “Young Marquis is very concerned about the family affairs of the Pei family, which is ‘just the face of a Court of Judicial Review and a Minor Chamberlain’?”
Shangguan Jie: “…Can you stop being so sarcastic?”
Pei Xiting put on a bewildered expression. “I’m just feeling honored. After all, the Young Marquis is of noble status, while our Pei family is like mud compared to clouds—I—”
Shangguan Jie released Pei Xiting abruptly, frowning. “Enough!”
Pei Xiting rubbed his wrist and was about to leave when Shangguan Jie sidestepped to block him. “Where did you go after I was knocked unconscious that day?”
“I stayed overnight at the Mandarin Duck Pavilion and returned the next day,” Pei Xiting said.
Shangguan Jie was suspicious. “Why didn’t anyone see you along the way?”
Pei Xiting smiled. “Because I was afraid of meeting acquaintances. If an acquaintance asked how I got the bruise on my neck, I might accidentally let slip what happened and ruin the Young Marquis’s reputation. So I had to avoid people.”
Shangguan Jie laughed coldly. “So I’m supposed to thank you for your thoughtfulness?”
Pei Xiting said, “That’s not impossible.”
“…” Shangguan Jie closed his eyes, took a deep breath to suppress his anger, then continued, “That thief who knocked me out with a club—do you remember what he looked like?”
“I don’t remember.” Pei Xiting said. “He had a dagger against my neck. I was so scared I would have knelt and begged for mercy. How would I dare to look or ask?”
Shangguan Jie said coldly, “Aren’t you quite bold?”
Pei Xiting said blankly, “Am I?”
“…” Shangguan Jie took another deep breath and asked in a low voice, “You didn’t see his face at all?”
“No.” Pei Xiting made it up as he went. “He told me to face the wall and close my eyes. I stood there for a while, and when I turned around, he was already gone. So I immediately ran.”
Shangguan Jie was amused by his matter-of-fact tone. “You didn’t report it to the authorities, just left me there?”
“Are you joking? If I reported it, the officials would certainly ask for details. If I covered for you, that’s bad; if I didn’t, that’s also bad. Even if you’re not afraid of losing face, I wouldn’t want to get tangled up in the yamen over something unclear. As for your safety,” Pei Xiting said in a horrified tone, “who would have the audacity to kill the honorable Young Marquis at Fumeng Tower? Wouldn’t that be asking for death?”
Shangguan Jie was about to speak again, suffocating with pent-up frustration, but Pei Xiting had already walked past him.
“Stop right there!” Shangguan Jie followed. “What are you doing at Baiyou Mountain? This place is a den of thieves, not like the city. Anyone could snatch someone like you away.”
“Rest assured, after the lesson from the Young Marquis, I won’t trust anyone so easily again. I wouldn’t want to be tricked into a trap.” Before Shangguan Jie could explode with rage, Pei Xiting smiled first and said, “Then what is the Young Marquis doing here?”
“Naturally, investigating a case.” Shangguan Jie stepped forward until his toes touched Pei Xiting’s, but Pei Xiting didn’t retreat an inch. He just looked at him calmly, his eyes like cold, limpid pools of water, breathtakingly beautiful.
Shangguan Jie was momentarily stunned, then his tone turned fierce. “I’m warning you—if you dare leak the news that Po Yinlin was stolen, I won’t let you off!”
So that dagger was called Po Yinlin. Pei Xiting’s mind turned: That masked young man was no small fry in the underworld, and the fat-thin duo also seemed to have some background. They were all after Po Yinlin—was it really just because the dagger was a weapon from the imperial treasury?
“I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?”
Pei Xiting snapped back to attention, gave Shangguan Jie a helpless expression that said, “Yes, you’re talking, but I can’t hear you,” and turned to leave.
Shangguan Jie was about to pursue him when his bodyguard ran over from behind and said quietly, “Young Marquis, the buyer was killed, and Chief Steward Qi doesn’t know where Po Yinlin is either. Also… news of Po Yinlin’s theft has already leaked.”
“…Damn it.” Shangguan Jie’s face darkened as he turned. “To the Eastern Palace.”
Two paintings were mounted on the painting table, both with white sandalwood rollers and white jade axel tips. On the brocade ribbon and jade tag were only two small seal-script stamps: Wen Juan.
One painting was a figure, the other a landscape.
The figure painting was of a woman dancing in the grass, graceful and lithe, her clothes fluttering, her brows full of smiles, her eyes rippling. The Crown Prince’s vision blurred for a moment, as if he had been brushed by a white silk ribbon flying from her sleeve, leaving a faint scent of roses. Looking at the landscape painting—mountains, water, and a plank road—each brushstroke seemed like a person’s head, face, eyes, hands, and feet. The composition, movement, and artistic conception were all complete, making one feel as if they were amidst the mountains, hearing the sound of wind and springs.
Only someone with heart and feeling could create such paintings, blending with heaven and earth, sensing freely, even moving the heartless.
The Crown Prince’s eyes conjured the face of “Pei Wenjuan.” That person’s brows were like green mountains, and his eyes stirred ripples—clearly a cunning and bold fox who disliked cages and yearned for freedom.
Yu Shaoyun entered lightly, cupping his hands and reporting, “Young Marquis Shangguan requests an audience.”
The Crown Prince set down the horsetail whisk and said, “The weather is getting muggy, not suitable for hanging paintings. Let them see some sunlight, then put them in the painting box and place them on the shelf.”
The Chief Clerk of the Eastern Palace, who stood by, cupped his hands and acknowledged.
Yu Shaoyun smiled and reminded, “Chief Clerk Lin, you must be careful when putting them in the box. These two paintings were snatched up at a high price by His Highness—he loves them.”
Chief Clerk Lin returned his gaze with an “as if you needed to tell me” look—if he didn’t love them, would the Crown Prince have framed them himself? Besides, this was already the eighteenth time the Crown Prince had come here to appreciate the paintings!
The two followed the Crown Prince as he walked out. Chief Clerk Lin said, “I hear there are still people outside asking about the whereabouts of these two paintings. But no one seems to know the origin of this painter ‘Wen Juan’—as if she appeared out of thin air?”
“I know.” Yu Shaoyun flipped out of the hall with a somersault, his ponytail swinging. “He’s a young man, exceptionally handsome—as brilliant and marvelous as the paintings in his brush.”
Chief Clerk Lin praised, “These two paintings—one figures, one landscapes—the former is lively, the latter ethereal. This young painter is truly extraordinary.”
Leaving Zhenxian Pavilion, they followed the covered corridor forward. When they passed the middle of the lake, they saw a young boy standing in the pavilion with his hands behind his back, reciting from a book. When the boy saw the Crown Prince, he immediately bowed. Yu Shaoyun and Chief Clerk Lin quickly returned the gesture.
The Crown Prince gave him only a glance before looking away and continuing on.
“…” Zong Lu clutched his book tighter, watching the Crown Prince disappear at the end of the corridor, then lowered his head in disappointment.
“Don’t be upset, little master,” the eunuch picked up the bowl of iced mung bean soup on the table and skillfully comforted Zong Lu. “His Highness went ahead to see court officials, not—”
“—not because he doesn’t want to acknowledge you—Eunuch Lai, you’ve said that a thousand times.” Zong Lu took a sip from the porcelain bowl, put it back in Eunuch Lai’s hands, and said sullenly, “Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not stupid.”
Eunuch Lai coaxed, “Yes, yes, yes—how could you be stupid? You’re the smartest young gentleman under heaven!”
Zong Lu snorted, turned back to sit at the stone table, hugged his book, and asked, “Why has Fifth Uncle been going to Zhenxian Pavilion so often lately?”
Eunuch Lai, well-informed, said, “It’s said that His Highness bought back two paintings and likes them very much.”
Zong Lu looked thoughtful. “Fifth Uncle rarely likes anything… If I bought him a painting too, would he be happy?”
“Giving someone what they like is indeed the rule for gift-giving, but,” Eunuch Lai said with difficulty, “His Highness has high standards. How could an ordinary painting catch his noble eye?”
“Didn’t he just buy two back?” Zong Lu said. “Go find out where those two paintings came from. Remember!”
His jade-carved little face tightened as he solemnly instructed, “Don’t tell Fifth Uncle. I want to surprise him.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Eunuch Lai said with a smile. “I definitely won’t tell His Highness!”