Chapter 43: Harboring Ill Intentions

Three days had passed since returning from the Tiger Roar Camp, and Jia Ming had not shown up. Shen Yu’s doubts only deepened. She hadn’t seen Jia Ming and had no place to start. The small dried fish he used to feed the cat did come as tribute from Persia, but who received it as a gift from whom was hard to tell. The only thing clear was that Jia Ming was not an ordinary person.

She had planned to wait until Jia Ming appeared to pry information from him, but it was as if he knew she wanted to glean hints of his identity and so he stopped coming to see her.

Moreover, Shen Yu didn’t only want clues from Jia Ming. She also wanted to vent her resentment. If only Jia Ming had explained things clearly to her that night… Instead he teased her, saying he’d bring the Fire-Avoidance Chart next time, and that seeing it would make the matters between men and women clear to her.

If he hadn’t said that, she wouldn’t have been unable to resist her curiosity and asked others for the Fire-Avoidance Chart.

She’d been holding that breath of anger for several days, yet the person who could relieve it simply hadn’t appeared.

She had been sitting in the study for half an hour, and the book in her hand had advanced only one page.

“Knock knock.”

The study door was knocked; Shen Yu snapped back to attention and asked, “What is it?”

“Young Master, autumn is a dry season so your maid brewed some green tea for you.”

Hearing the voice outside, Shen Yu let out a long breath. Hengniang had been at the Grand Guardian’s residence for nearly half a month. She seemed fairly proper and hadn’t done anything excessive, but since Old Master had designated her as her future concubine, Shen Yu felt both awkward and wary toward Hengniang.

“Bring it in.”

Hengniang pushed open the study door and entered with a tray. A faint tea aroma drifted from the teapot on the tray. She stole a glance at Shen Yu with the corner of her eye and saw Shen Yu intently reading. That serious, focused look fascinated Hengniang, and she couldn’t help but look again.

Shen Yu’s gaze remained fixed on the book and she didn’t glance at Hengniang bringing in the tea. The book that hadn’t moved for half an hour had already turned three pages in the short time since Hengniang entered.

In front of others Shen Yu was usually as calm as still water and she didn’t appear cold or unreachable. Instead, those who stayed near her gradually felt soothed, even the irritable eventually calmed down.

This was likely the idea that one temperament subdues another: Shen Yu’s gentle nature could pacify others, but it too was subdued by Fang Rui’s shameless temperament.

She turned another page, her eyes following, and said lightly, “Set the tea down and go.”

Hengniang set the tea from the tray onto the table and, about to pour it for Shen Yu, paused and then inclined her head, “This maid will take her leave first.”

When Hengniang retreated to the study doorway, Shen Yu’s brows tightened slightly and she suddenly said, “Hengniang, I saved you back then out of kindness. Don’t do anything that will make me regret having saved you.”

Hengniang, hearing this, lost her composure for a moment, then steadied herself and feigned calm as she asked, “What do you mean by that, Young Master?”

Shen Yu put down her book, lifted her eyes to Hengniang, and the slight chill in her gaze seemed to see through her.

His Majesty had said that a young woman braving hardship to travel a thousand miles to the capital to repay a debt of gratitude was no simple person. Someone with that persistence, if it’s not sincere, must be seeking something else.

Shen Yu’s intuition told her Hengniang was the latter. Moreover, Old Master’s attitude already indicated he had seen through Hengniang’s intentions, which was why he had placed her at Shen Yu’s side, waiting for the right moment.

If Hengniang sought wealth and status, Shen Yu could more easily accept it. But if she sought a person, and that person was Shen Yu herself, then Shen Yu could not accept it at all.

Though she had been masquerading as a man for twenty years, she was still a genuine woman. To have another woman desiring her…how could she ever accept that?!

Shen Yu watched Hengniang, her tone solemn as she warned, “Thoughts that shouldn’t exist, let them remain thoughts, don’t take that step.” Her greatest fear was that Hengniang, being of the latter kind, would recklessly confess to her. If that happened, Shen Yu could have no say and Old Master would make the decision for her.

Shen Yu’s words were heartless, offering Hengniang not an inch of chance.

Hengniang kept her head bowed so her expression couldn’t be seen, but Shen Yu heard her say, “This maid will not cross the line.”

After all, Hengniang’s temperament wasn’t as steady as Shen Yu’s. The hand that held the tray gripped its edge tightly, trying hard to conceal her emotions, but Shen Yu could hear her efforts to hold her thoughts leaking through her voice.

“That’s all I wanted to say. Please leave.”

After Shen Yu finished, Hengniang answered once and left. After the study door closed, she lifted her head and there was a hint of redness in her eyes.

With Hengniang’s disturbance, Shen Yu couldn’t focus on the book. She propped her elbow on the table, rested her cheek on the back of her hand, and stared blankly, her feelings complicated.

Meanwhile, since Fang Rui returned from the Tiger Roar Camp he had been studying troop formations, drawing formations suitable for a hundred men for several consecutive days. He seemed to have become obsessed with the art of arranging formations.

After refining his ideas from the past few days, he put them into an envelope, summoned Rong Tai, handed it to him and said, “Give these formations to Lei Shengda, and tell that group of recruits to practice them. By the mid-autumn hunt next month they must be able to use them freely.”

Rong Tai took the envelope, confusion in his eyes. “Your Majesty, you openly train troops like this, right under the Empress Dowager and the Wang clan’s noses. Aren’t you worried about raising the alarm?”

Fang Rui shook his head and said, “There are probably Empress Dowager’s people within the Tiger Roar Camp as well. As those recruits grow more capable, suspicion will fall on them sooner or later, it’s only a matter of time. But if we train them secretly and furtively, those people will certainly be suspicious and sabotage us in secret. If we train openly, it’s different: they’ll think I’m merely playing around and won’t take it too seriously.”

Sometimes, doing things openly could be a more cautious method than doing them covertly.

Rong Tai understood Fang Rui’s meaning and did not press further.

“Your Majesty, the herbs for refining the Heart Lock antidote are complete except for the final medicinal catalyst. Once that catalyst is found you can begin the concoction.”

If Rong Tai hadn’t mentioned it, Fang Rui had nearly forgotten the poison on his body remained unresolved. He hadn’t made any intense moves lately. His angina had flared only once during the fight with Huyan Suoyun, and otherwise he was fine.

“What else is missing?” In Fang Rui’s memory, only one thing was hardest to find.

“The men sent to seek it on the Tianshan spent a long time searching but found no trace of the snow toad.”

The medicines used to dissolve the Heart Lock were almost all rare treasures. Most, according to His Majesty’s description, were comparatively easy to find, except for that legendary toxin-immune snow toad, which had not been found.

Fang Rui pondered: the world held too many uncertainties, no one could predict what would happen next. Even with his rebirth, he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that events from his past life would repeat unchanged this time, since the variable was himself.

Thus the antidote matter was urgent, but Fang Rui wasn’t sure if the snow toad could still be found in the same place, and even if so, the toad wouldn’t necessarily stay put to be caught.

“The snow toad isn’t only on Tianshan. Those in the jianghu who practice unorthodox or demonic arts might know of the snow toad’s whereabouts.”

“Your servant will immediately arrange people to search.”

…

Manchun Hall.

A palace maid brought the stew into the hall and, seeing her mistress listlessly lying on the consort’s couch, urged, “My lady, don’t overthink it. Drink some bird’s nest to nourish yourself first.”

Consort He sighed softly, “How can I not overthink?” Ever since that time she spent most of the night in Zichen Hall and was not favored, the Empress Dowager, though unspeaking, had grown cold toward her, effectively indicating she was not useful.

“My lady, perhaps His Majesty simply doesn’t yet know a woman’s charms, which is why he hasn’t favored you.” The maid was Consort He’s confidante and had served her even outside the palace, so there was no need to be too circumspect with such words.

Consort He found some truth in that, sat up on the consort’s couch, regarded the maid thoughtfully and said, “Bring out the things I had you prepare last time.”

The maid had a point: if His Majesty had not experienced a woman’s charms, he would remain so pure and ascetic. But once he had tried, he surely would not be as he was now.