For two consecutive days, Yuan Yuan did not show up again.
During this period, Ma Bing had already gotten used to having a pretty little girl with round eyes smiling at her and following her like a little tail, calling her “big sister” in a sweet and crisp voice.
But now, that little girl was gone, disappearing like a raindrop falling into a lake, leaving only a faint trace in her heart.
For the first time, Ma Bing encountered such a difficult issue, feeling utterly at a loss.
She was somewhat worried about Yuan Yuan’s situation, but if she were to pay a visit, what identity should she use? If they met again, would it be awkward, or even cause embarrassment for the entire Yuan family?
She didn’t even have someone she could consult.
Tossing and turning late at night, unable to fall asleep, Ma Bing finally gave up and got up, sitting by the table with her hair loose, lost in thought.
She wanted to draw, but couldn’t calm her mind enough, so she gave up.
What a pity to have ground such good ink.
Sighing deeply, Ma Bing leaned listlessly on the table like a pile of mud, watching a little bug that had somehow flown in, frantically using its six tiny legs to crawl quickly.
Her thoughts drifted off:
It would be better to be a little bug, living only a day and dying by nightfall, not needing to think about anything, just living for a bit of dew or leftovers…
What’s so good about being human? Love and hate, emotions and desires, never a moment of peace.
“Boom, boom~”
Summer rain is so capricious. Without any warning, accompanied by a few muffled thunderclaps from the horizon, the continuous night rain began to fall.
Raindrops like pearls and beans fell quietly and swiftly, hitting the dense leaves and eaves, urgent and dense, making a clinking sound.
Moist air mixed with the fragrance of earth came rushing in. Ma Bing caught a few raindrops in her hand, forcing herself to think.
In just over half a month would be the scripture lecture at Fuyun Temple in the southern part of the city. According to Zhang Baoyue’s intelligence, Tian Song was very likely to attend.
In the past few days, Ma Bing had repeatedly rehearsed many scenarios in her mind, considering every possibility:
If he went and stayed overnight, what should she do;
If he went and came back the same day, what then.
Even considering what to do if he didn’t go at all.
In any case, after a few days, she should quietly go and survey the terrain.
Thinking thus, Ma Bing pulled open a drawer and took out several sheets of letter paper, flipping them repeatedly between her fingers and examining them under the lamp.
She even couldn’t help humming a random little tune: “The little hunter catches the old fox, caught two, still have…”
At first glance, it seemed like ordinary letter paper, but upon closer inspection, they appeared slightly thicker and darker in color than usual.
But scholars loved to process their own paper, taking pride in making unusual colored stationery, so it wasn’t particularly strange.
According to Zhang Baoyue, Tian Song was quite suspicious, even to the point of paranoia. If he received a letter from a stranger, he would definitely refuse to open it himself.
But Ma Bing was confident that after someone else read it, Tian Song would be unable to resist grabbing it to read.
As for what would happen after he read it, that was the most important part.
After all, these seemingly unremarkable sheets of paper had cost her a great deal of effort!
Carefully hiding the formula, preparing medicine, soaking repeatedly…
Ma Bing slowly exhaled, putting the letter paper back into the drawer. Seeing the several similarly processed bookmarks beside it, she couldn’t help but smile.
Ordinary paper would soften and collapse when wet, and even after drying would not be as good as before. To avoid suspicion, she had no idea how many times she had tested under the guise of making bookmarks, wasting many attempts before finally achieving results.
Bookmarks…
Oops, she thought of that little girl again. Annoyed, Ma Bing grabbed her hair and slammed the drawer shut.
Forget it, forget it. Since it’s raining tonight and she couldn’t sleep anyway, she might as well go for a walk on the street.
Thinking thus, Ma Bing quickly got dressed, hastily tying her glossy black hair. Hmm? Where had she put her hairpin before going to bed?
Well, she wasn’t in the mood to look for it anymore. She grabbed a dry paintbrush at hand, using it as a hairpin, and went out with an oil-paper umbrella.
It was an old umbrella, originally beige, now clearly yellowed. The white mountains and black waters painted on it seemed to have acquired the marks of time.
Truly worthy of being Kaifeng—already the hour of the ox (1 a.m. to 3 a.m.), yet the streets were far from deserted, everywhere filled with bright lights, wine, and laughter.
Many shops operated in shifts; one group of clerks would finish their shift, while the next group would tidy up and prepare to work through the day.
The rain was heavy, and soon after it started, the ground was completely wet, reflecting the lights from the tall buildings along the street.
Looking up, Ma Bing saw semi-covered paper windows in the tavern, where the scent of cosmetics mixed with the aroma of alcohol wafted softly through the rain.
On the orange-red candlelit window stood the silhouette of a singing girl, her delicate voice accompanied by stringed instruments and the sound of rain, singing sensuously: “It was those two love-hate rivals~”
Love-hate rivals…
The drinkers laughed and applauded, while Ma Bing sighed her countless sigh of these days.
Indeed, love-hate rivals!
“Miss Ma?”
A familiar voice sounded.
Lifting her umbrella, Ma Bing saw Xie Yu standing there with his own umbrella, tall and elegant. “Minister Xie.”
“So late…”
They both spoke at the same time, then both stopped.
They exchanged glances and smiled.
Well then, no need to ask.
Not having to attend official duties, and appearing on the street at midnight, besides insomnia, there seemed to be no other reason.
“Miss Ma, are you heading back to the yamen?” Xie Yu approached.
He seemed to have been out for a while, as the umbrella looked newly bought, obviously purchased nearby when it suddenly rained, since Ma Bing hadn’t seen him use it before, and judging by the workmanship, it was clearly an emergency purchase.
“Just stepped out.” Ma Bing shook her head.
Her hair wasn’t properly combed at all, only loosely tied to keep it from falling loose. Most of it was piled sloppily at the back of her head, with several strands hanging naturally, giving her a rare soft and feminine charm compared to her usual neatness.
Xie Yu couldn’t help glancing at her a few times, then felt somewhat abrupt, quickly looking away.
Then… he couldn’t help glancing a few more times.
Oh, using a paintbrush as a hairpin, actually gave her a touch of scholarly elegance.
Even more casual and lovely.
But he knew well enough that this girl probably didn’t intend it; most likely she just couldn’t find a hairpin and hastily made do.
“It’s raining, not good to wander around,” Xie Yu looked at a teahouse by the roadside, “why not go in for some tea and enjoy the rain.”
At this late hour, few people were out for tea, the shop was sparsely occupied, which made it peaceful.
Ma Bing didn’t care where they went; she was just glad to have someone to talk to, so she readily agreed.
Though they said tea, since she was already suffering from insomnia, drinking tea might make her even sleepier the next day. Xie Yu asked the tea master to bring a bowl of sweet soup made from various nuts and dried fruits, while he himself had a bowl of plain spring water.
The rain grew heavier, with a bit of wind, the rain outside the window slanting into a curtain.
The steaming bowl of sweet soup warmed her hands, gradually dispelling the chill, and Ma Bing sighed comfortably.
“There hasn’t been any major commotion from the Yuan family these days,” Xie Yu’s voice suddenly came through the rising steam, “I suppose Miss Yuan should be fine.”
Ma Bing looked over in surprise, but was met with a snow-white handkerchief.
Xie Yu said, “Wipe yourself.”
As he spoke, a drop of water fell from her temple.
“Oh, thank you.” Ma Bing took it, and after a moment’s silence, said with mixed feelings, “Thank you.”
The first “thank you” was for his thoughtfulness; she hadn’t even noticed her hair was wet.
The second “thank you” was also for his thoughtfulness, even considering Miss Yuan.
Ma Bing always felt that with Xie Yu’s depth of character, he probably guessed where Yuan Yuan’s troubles stemmed from, but she couldn’t directly ask him about it.
Yet his actions were more considerate than asking directly.
But… why did Xie Yu do this?
Because of his former teacher-student relationship with Yuan the Academician? Or something else?
Suddenly, Ma Bing dared not think too much.
Her situation was truly bad, uncertain if she would live to see tomorrow, how could she dare to imagine more?
Ma Bing was usually very talkative. Whenever she and Yuanpei, both chatterboxes, got together, they could chat nonstop about nothing all day.
But these past few days, she had completely lost her enthusiasm for chatting. Yuanpei thought there had been a quarrel between the two girls and didn’t know how to comfort them, so he also cautiously kept his mouth shut.
Used to the noise, the sudden quiet for a few days made Xie Yu somewhat uncomfortable.
And now, the unbearable silence continued to spread.
“Princess Shouyang…” Xie Yu tried to start a conversation.
He wasn’t really good at consoling girls, especially a girl with unique preferences.
After thinking it over, it seemed this was the only way to break the silence.
“Ah?” Ma Bing was startled, her eyes suddenly becoming more lively, “What about her?”
Talking about Princess Shouyang was indeed an interesting topic.
Sure enough, she was interested.
Xie Yu secretly relaxed, suddenly not feeling guilty about gossiping behind someone’s back.
“The Emperor allowed her to live in Prince Shun’s mansion, easing the siblings’ longing for each other over the years. Prince Shun was deeply moved, and the court officials all praised the Emperor’s benevolence and magnanimity…”
Seeing him speak so seriously while making things up, Ma Bing blinked her eyes and finally burst into laughter.
Xie Yu’s heart relaxed, his eyes smiling, “You don’t believe me?”
Ma Bing tilted her head to look at him, “It is said that Princess Shouyang was forced to marry Shen Shi of Ludong back then, causing a huge uproar. She repeatedly petitioned for divorce, but Prince Shun repeatedly rejected her requests in writing. Where is the affection between the siblings now!”
As for the court officials’ praise, there probably weren’t many sincere ones, but there were certainly many superficial gestures.
After all, in the eyes of the common people, no matter what happened before, family reunion is the right path!
Xie Yu couldn’t help but laugh. Seeing her finally regain her spirit, he stopped talking.
Indeed, there was no affection.
After Princess Shouyang moved into Prince Shun’s mansion, the Prince and his wife were greatly alarmed. However, being old and frail, and having fallen out of favor, they couldn’t make much of a fuss.
Moreover, Princess Shouyang had received the Emperor’s decree for “reunion.” Could they really defy the imperial order?
So now Princess Shouyang visited Prince Shun three times a day to inquire about his well-being, recounting past events, and even personally feeding him medicine…
But she was clearly not born to serve others. It was said that she always failed to feed him properly, and many burn ointments in Prince Shun’s mansion were consumed due to her.
Upon hearing this, the Emperor was deeply moved by their deep sibling bond and thus bestowed many high-quality burn ointments, sending them in a grand procession.
Thus, both the court and the common people began to praise the Emperor’s magnanimity.
The Emperor said that although he didn’t care much about his reputation, occasionally hearing everyone flatter him in unison didn’t feel too bad!
As for why Xie Yu knew all this so clearly, it was because after the rotten egg incident, he had been summoned to the palace for two consecutive days and scolded severely.
After Xie Yu awkwardly started the conversation, things became smoother.
The two chatted about various topics for half the night before heading back as dawn approached.
When they parted at the entrance of the pharmacy courtyard, Xie Yu shared his experience: “If your heart feels uneasy, it might be better to find something to keep yourself busy.”
When you’re busy, you won’t have time to think.
Ma Bing listened thoughtfully.
The next morning, Ade came in with a message, “Madam, just now when I went out, I heard the guards at the gate talking about a strange occurrence…”
It turned out that every morning for the past few days, a child had come running to the yamen gate. He didn’t speak or try to rush in, just stood by the roadside, as if wanting to find someone but too timid to speak.
Originally, everyone thought it was just a mischievous child and paid no attention. But since he came for three consecutive days, a guard finally took notice.
Yesterday, the child came again, and the guard approached half-jokingly and half-seriously asking, “Kid, are you here to report a case?”
To everyone’s surprise, the child actually nodded.
The guard tried to ask more, but the child refused to speak further. When pressed, he suddenly ran off.
They thought he had run away and wouldn’t be seen again, but who would have thought he came back early this morning!
This time, the guards didn’t dare approach hastily, fearing that if there was really something wrong, they might scare him off. Just then Ade happened to be leaving, so they asked him to go back and report immediately.
After hearing this, Xie Yu’s face lit up with joy.
Truly, when you’re sleepy, someone brings a pillow. Just when he was thinking of giving her something to do, here it came!
“Go get Miss Ma!”
However, Ade looked puzzled and said, “Didn’t Miss Ma just go out?”
Xie Yu’s steps paused, and a sudden sense of foreboding rose in his heart, “Where did she go?”
Ade scratched his head, “She said she was bored, so she went to a brothel.”
Xie Yu: …
This is not what I meant by keeping busy!
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