Chapter 15

The Empress’s expression turned cold in an instant.

Her shadow guards had already investigated everything clearly — the assassins had indeed abducted Su Jiao today. She had been in a hurry to summon all the inner court noblewomen precisely to catch them off guard. A princess consort with a tarnished reputation who had been carried off by bandits — wouldn’t that invite the ridicule of the entire realm?

“This Empress is also doing this to ensure Jiao Jiao’s safety. Besides, if she truly had not been abducted, why stop the imperial physicians from examining her?”

Her gaze fell on Xie Yan, already carrying a trace of disgust.

If an ordinary prince had learned that his wife had suffered such a thing, he would have felt estranged from her no matter what. Yet this one was truly spineless — he actually helped the Su woman cover it up.

“Besides, Yan’er — why must you lie and cover for her?”

The gazes of the inner court noblewomen that fell on Su Jiao became all the more unguarded.

Some held mockery, some were watching the spectacle unfold. With those words, the Empress had all but confirmed the fact of her abduction.

Under so many watchful eyes, the Empress’s gaze was especially arrogant and contemptuous. The wound on Su Jiao’s face had not yet been treated, and she had been abruptly summoned here to be humiliated. Every word the Empress spoke was laced with ill intent. The grievances accumulated across two lifetimes surged together all at once, and she could no longer hold herself back.

“Your Majesty—”

“Your Majesty also said there is no need for me to conceal anything. If it were the truth, I naturally would not conceal it — but if something never happened, I cannot simply allow others to humiliate my new wife, can I?”

Both voices rang out at the same time. Su Jiao stared in astonishment at Xie Yan standing before her. The wrist he held in his grip radiated warmth, and his words rang out through the hall without allowing for any retort.

She swallowed what she had been about to say.

The Empress was left speechless by his counter-question, and this was precisely what she could not understand.

If a wife’s reputation had been ruined, one simply replaced her — anyone else, especially among the imperial family, who could possibly tolerate such a thing?

What’s more, this woman was standing down in the hall with her face covered by a veil, her hair and temples in disarray. Who could say what the bandits might have done to her after seizing her?

“Then are you saying that this Empress is deliberately fabricating lies to deceive you?”

“This prince would not dare.”

Xie Yan raised his head to look at her, his eyes cold and dark as though steeped in ice — even the Empress, long accustomed to holding a position of supremacy, was momentarily taken aback.

“Mother Empress says the bandits abducted a young woman, so that must be what happened?

Regardless of whether that young woman is the princess consort Mother Empress speaks of or some other miss, without evidence, Mother Empress — as the mother of the nation — should not give credence to such words. After all, most of those present are ladies and misses of distinguished families. Should rumour taint any one of them, the harm inflicted would be immeasurable.”

His gaze swept from the Empress across the other assembled women. The clan wives fell silent at once, each inwardly aware that if such a thing were to land on any one of them, the price would be unbearable.

“So — does Mother Empress have evidence?”

Before the Empress could respond, Su Jiao had already spoken up.

“Mother Empress, please do not say that the guards witnessed it. At that time, all the Imperial Guard were under orders to pursue and kill the assassins. If anyone had seen something, why would they not have given chase — but instead stood and watched as the assassins escaped? If such a person truly exists, Mother Empress must find them. They would have to be sentenced to death for dereliction of duty.”

“Punishing only the guards would hardly be sufficient. This matter is bound up with Father Emperor’s safety. Since Mother Empress has been so attentive to this affair — knowing from the very moment it occurred that the assassins had fled — it would only be proper to lead by example and also punish the master of those guards.”

Xie Yan gave a quiet laugh, and the two of them, husband and wife, turned to look at the Empress in unison.

The Empress naturally had no evidence. With her shadow guards’ account as a foundation, she had intended to lift Su Jiao’s veil and then guide the situation so the rumour would be permanently pinned on Su Jiao. But Xie Yan had appeared to vouch for her and, with just a few words, had rendered the assembled clan wives too afraid to speak. Now, if she could produce no evidence and still wished to lift her daughter-in-law’s veil, she would truly have no ground to stand on.

Her complexion shifted between pale and green. Naturally, she could not produce the guards as evidence either — knowing this couple’s way with words, she feared that the blame for negligence would be turned back on her head first.

“Since Yan’er says you and Jiao Jiao were in the courtyard the entire time, this Empress naturally believes you. This matter… shall be considered this Empress’s oversight.”

She bit out those words through clenched teeth, shot Xie Yan a cold glance, and moved to leave.

“Mother Empress summoned Jiao Jiao in such haste — the wound on her face has not yet been treated. It is a wound to the face, after all, and with so much time having passed, if a scar were to form and someone were to ask about it upon returning…”

“Then have the imperial physician see to it.”

“An imperial physician will not be necessary. Just now, one took it upon himself to step forward and grab Jiao Jiao’s arm — she was quite frightened by it.”

Xie Yan turned his head slightly, and Su Jiao, with perfect timing, gave a small shudder and retreated behind him, raising a hand to cover her face as though on the verge of tears.

“Your Highness, that imperial physician truly gave me a fright just now.”

The Empress: ……

“Send a bottle of Jade Dew Ointment to the Third Prince’s courtyard.”

She strode forward and pushed away the maidservant who had moved to support her, walking out with words that seemed to come through gritted teeth.

Only then did Xie Yan bow.

“Many thanks, Mother Empress.”

Stepping past Xie Yan, her gaze fell coldly on the couple.

“You treat your princess consort rather well.”

“Jiao Jiao is, after all, this prince’s wife. Husband and wife share each other’s honour and disgrace. Jiao Jiao has been injured — naturally this prince would not abandon her to go and investigate another’s fault.”

Xie Yan’s words carried a pointed implication, and the Empress’s face darkened at once.

Had she not done exactly that — rushed off to interrogate Su Jiao precisely at the moment the Emperor had been hurt?

This time, she could not even maintain that last trace of composure. The curtain at the door was sent swinging with a crash as she swept it aside and strode out.

The couple then made their way back. Along the way, Su Jiao kept stealing glances at Xie Yan, unable to stop herself from looking again and again.

“What is it?”

“Just find it remarkable.”

In her previous life, Xie Yan had always put on such a show of filial devotion before that woman.

She never could have imagined seeing him talk back like this.

Was it because his favourite consort had not yet appeared at this point in time?

Xie Yan had no way of knowing what she was thinking, and raised an eyebrow.

“We are husband and wife — what is so remarkable about it?”

Even knowing that these were words only the Xie Yan of the past could have said, Su Jiao felt a warmth settle in her heart upon hearing them.

Today, Xie Yan had rescued her in a moment of crisis, covered for her in the Empress’s hall, and at the end had even remembered her injury and obtained medicine for her on her behalf. Xie Yan at seventeen was truly a good person.

Even after he later took a beloved consort, Su Jiao had never denied that during the two years she spent in the Cold Palace in her previous life, he had genuinely been a very good husband.

Thinking of this, Su Jiao’s thoughts turned again to the person she had glimpsed earlier.

The First Prince had been sentenced by imperial decree three years ago to be executed at the Meridian Gate. The Imperial Guard had been present in attendance, the Minister of Justice had personally issued the order, and it had been carried out before the eyes of everyone. His body had even been interred in a tomb. How could he possibly have come back to life?

Yet if she were to say there existed someone who resembled him to such a degree, Su Jiao could not bring herself to believe that either.

She looked over at Xie Yan, the words rising to her lips and then dying there.

She was afraid she had mistaken someone else — and even more afraid that the mention of this prince might be a forbidden subject for him.

But what she feared most… was that if the First Prince had truly not died, then had not these past years in the Cold Palace been a complete mockery? He had been alive, hiding all along, yet had then come to attempt the Emperor’s assassination — could that bring harm to Xie Yan?

“What is it?”

Xie Yan turned his head and noticed her expression.

“Did you… manage to see the assassin’s face when you gave chase today?”

“No…”

Xie Yan paused mid-sentence and asked her.

“You saw it?”

Su Jiao pressed her lips together.

“Not clearly — only that the brow and eyes seemed somewhat familiar.”

“Since when does the princess consort make a habit of recognising assassins?”

“The brow and eyes looked a little like you.”

“Me?”

Xie Yan was taken aback for a moment.

“Su Jiao — I am a prince.”

What other status could someone who resembled him possibly hold?

Understanding the unspoken implication in his words, Su Jiao bit her lip and hinted, obliquely.

“Perhaps it was a prince?”

“Which prince would be reckless enough to dare assassinate his own father and sovereign?”

“One who is alive would not dare — but what if it were a dead man?”

She blinked. At those words, Xie Yan came to an abrupt halt.

Su Jiao had seen him.

A flicker of interest passed through his eyes as he looked at the worry and urgency in Su Jiao’s gaze.

“You think we encountered a ghost?”

“That is not something to be said on sacred Buddhist grounds.”

Su Jiao immediately clapped her hand over his mouth.

The soft touch lingered at the edge of his lips. Xie Yan glanced down at her and gestured pointedly.

“You said it first.”

Su Jiao sputtered.

“Someone truly dead naturally cannot come leaping out — but what if someone faked their death?”

She dropped that and, not daring to look at Xie Yan’s expression and even more afraid he would press her further, she pulled her hand away and bolted forward.

The warmth of his breath still lingered against her palm. She ran all the way back to the courtyard in one breath.

Behind her, Xie Yan stood watching for a long moment, then lowered his gaze and gave a quiet laugh.

The Su Jiao who had returned also had a kind heart.

****

Back in the courtyard, Su Jiao examined her wound again. Judging by the hour, the Empress’s people would not be arriving to deliver the medicine so soon, and so she decided to bathe first and wash away the filth covering her body.

She went out to find a servant to bring water. The courtyard was perfectly quiet — Xie Yan had not yet returned — so she latched the door and went behind the folding screen to bathe.

She had been chased by the assassins for quite some time and had worked up a great deal of sweat. Combined with the blood from her face that had dripped down and left her body feeling sticky, Su Jiao scrubbed herself with bath bean paste again and again. The bathing took nearly an entire hour. She soaked in the water and let the fatigue drain out of her properly, and only rose when the water had gone cold.

Her inner garment and towel were both on the rack behind the folding screen. Su Jiao had just finished drying herself and went to retrieve her inner garment.

She had only just turned her head when someone stepped past the folding screen at the same moment, and the two of them collided in the narrow space behind the screen.

“Ah—”

Su Jiao’s startled cry was swallowed back halfway. A familiar, handsome face loomed before her, enlarged. The sash at this person’s waist was half-undone — he had clearly not expected to find her here, and his eyes were equally wide with surprise.

His gaze dropped downward. When it fell on her garment, which hung loosely from her body, Xie Yan immediately averted his eyes in discomfort, and the tips of his ears flushed crimson in an instant.

Su Jiao hurriedly fumbled to pull her garment closed, and at the same time scolded him in a hushed voice, her face red.

“You — you — you… why did you come back? Get out, won’t you?”

Xie Yan had been out dealing with various matters and had just returned. Pursuing that person today had expended a great deal of his internal energy, and since they were finally out and about — unlike in Yongning Hall, where even requesting hot water had been such an ordeal — he had instructed a servant outside to heat water and bring it in, intending to take a bath.

The moment he had stepped into the courtyard, a servant had told him that water had already been sent to this room. The room had been perfectly quiet, so he had thought nothing of it and had simply pushed open the door and stepped inside.

No one could have foreseen it would come to this.

The temperature where his fingertips had grazed her body was scorchingly hot as well. As Xie Yan was pushed back toward the door, he was in quite some disarray himself.

“Third Prince, this servant has come on orders to deliver medicine.”

At the instant a servant rapped on the door in rapid succession, Xie Yan grabbed Su Jiao’s wrist and retreated back behind the folding screen.

“Don’t move.”

His breathing was evidently a little unsteady. He lowered his voice to stop her from moving.

If the servant were to come in and see at this moment, it would look unseemly no matter how one explained it.

Su Jiao clearly realised this as well. Biting her lip, she stayed nestled against him.

Her garments were still not properly gathered. Her inner robe hung loosely from her body, and the clean fragrance of the bath bean paste drifted from her hair and skin toward Xie Yan. He had been holding his head up, but the scent drew his gaze downward before he even realised it.

What met his eyes was a stretch of skin like white jade, flushed slightly pink from the soak. Below the slender column of her neck were delicate collarbones and a throat that shifted with an involuntary swallow. A droplet of water followed the movement of her body, gliding down from her neck, and disappeared into the folds of her garment.

And below the garment was—

White suffused with a trace of crimson. The sight was like a flame that burned from his eyes all the way down to his chest. Xie Yan moved instinctively to push her away, yet somehow ended up pulling her closer instead.

The heat of his palms was searing. Increasingly flustered, Su Jiao shifted her waist, trying to free herself.

The more she moved, the tighter Xie Yan held her.

“Don’t move…”

The servant outside knocked at the door once more, but his gaze and his reason had been entirely seized by the sight before him.

They could not speak. With such closeness and such contact, the breathing of both had grown unsteady.

Su Jiao’s breath seemed even more rapid than his. Fine beads of sweat formed on her forehead but could not cling to that porcelain-pale face, dripping instead onto her collarbone.

She bit her lip. At some point their gazes had tangled together. His hand settled over that slender waist, drawing her closer still. His deep, dark eyes fixed on those red lips, and slowly, he lowered his head.