Alone, Beautifully – Chapter 126
by Little PandaBestowing Upon You the Realm (8)
Could it be… she likes me?
Hearing this voice, Xu Jiao turned her head to look.
She caught sight of the protagonist who should have been at the palace banquet receiving praise from ministers and blessings from foreign envoys – Regent Yu Ye.
The phrase “private meeting with a beauty” still lingered in Xu Jiao’s mind.
At this moment, Nie Yunyue also looked towards the newcomer. Having grown into a handsome young man after years of living in the palace, he was now able to conceal his emotions completely. Facing the main culprit who had led troops to defeat Liang and nearly made him a prisoner, his expression remained calm. Only his eyes changed slightly as he politely cupped his hands and bowed to Yu Ye:
“General Yu.”
Yu Ye glanced at him, then looked at Xu Jiao. The young crown prince casually explained: “I ate too much at the palace banquet earlier, so I came out for a walk to aid digestion. But General Yu, you’re now a meritorious official of Da Yan and the protagonist of tonight’s banquet. Why have you come out as well?”
Hearing Xu Jiao’s words, Yu Ye coldly replied: “There are some urgent matters to deal with at the Jinyi Wei (imperial guards).”
Xu Jiao nodded and politely said “You work hard, sir,” without greeting Nie Yunyue. She then led her attendants towards the Eastern Palace, having no intention of dealing with grand events like banquets anymore.
Come to think of it, what difference did it make whether a powerless crown prince like her attended the banquet or not?
Wouldn’t it be better to read more books than watch those people put on a show?
Xu Jiao, recalling a historical narrative she had read a few days ago, quickened her pace back with her servants. After Nie Yunyue also took his leave, Yu Ye stood in place, only able to see the light of lanterns held by the long procession of palace servants behind the crown prince’s entourage, like swimming snakes or a long dragon.
She didn’t know why she had instinctively followed when she saw Xu Jiao leave the banquet, making up an excuse. Perhaps she wanted to see if Xu Jiao had changed during the time she was away.
Thinking about it now—
The crown prince seemed to have grown taller.
Under the loose clothes, unlike before when she could barely fill them out with her bony frame, there was now some meat on her, and her chin was no longer as sharp as before.
Not bad.
Yu Ye’s mind flashed with an evaluation.
The person beside her, seeing that she had been standing on this path for too long until there was no one else around, couldn’t help but cautiously speak up: “General Yu…”
Yu Ye withdrew her gaze, reminded of the matter at hand. Thinking of some information gathered by the Jinyi Wei about court officials secretly selling titles and positions, a cold light flashed in her eyes. In the night, she softly said:
“Let’s go.”
The servant nodded, silently quickening their pace to keep up with her. They could faintly hear a question buried in the wind:
“My Lord, those gifts…”
“Put them in storage—as for the senders, investigate them. Dismiss those who are clean, deal with those who have issues.”
“Yes.”
In the following period of time.
Xu Jiao rarely left the Eastern Palace except for her own quarters. After all, Yu Ye’s influence in Da Yan was now at its peak, and there were inevitably courtiers who were good at observing the situation. Compared to a regent who controlled Da Yan’s military and had the Jinyi Wei at her command, investing in a powerless crown prince who was also female didn’t seem very promising.
Under these circumstances, if she were to frequently appear before the courtiers or actively create some disturbances, some people might try to move against her under the pretext of easing Yu Ye’s burdens.
Yu Ye was so powerful now, imagine if the only obstacle to her succession—Xu Jiao—were removed, would anyone be able to prevent her from becoming the first empress in Da Yan’s history?
No one.
Xu Jiao didn’t want to return to the system space so early, before seeing Yu Ye’s good ending. She feared that if she died too quickly, she would no longer be able to intervene if something unexpected happened in Yu Ye’s later life.
Fortunately, Xu Jiao had been a bit of a shut-in when she was a web novelist, so staying in one place for a long time didn’t feel particularly boring to her. She turned over one book after another, and soon it was January.
Red festive lanterns were hung high on the eaves.
One evening, Xu Jiao observed the dark sky for a while and guessed there would be snow at night. She ordered thick cloaks to be prepared early. When the fluttering white began to secretly coat the Da Yan palace in a layer of silver, she took a few palace servants and walked out of the hall.
Falling snow always made the world quieter.
Xu Jiao wore thick furry gloves, and around her neck was a snow-white furry collar that looked like rabbit fur. It made her face appear small and cute, seemingly no bigger than an adult’s palm, with delicate features that even the most skilled craftsmen in the palace couldn’t carve.
Although someone held an umbrella to block the snowflakes above her head, a gentle breeze would still bring some mischievous strays to land on her shoulders and hair tips, quietly melting into damp traces.
Xu Jiao headed towards where she remembered a red plum tree to be.
Under the palace wall, her bright red cloak almost blended with the high wall.
But just as she turned the corner, she was somewhat surprised to find a figure already standing in the distance under the gnarled plum tree. The person wore a dark silver cloak, faintly visible with dark bamboo patterns on it, giving off a sense of loneliness in this quiet snowy scene.
From a short distance away, Xu Jiao glanced at the figure and unexpectedly turned back without warning.
The palace servant holding the umbrella for her saw her turn around, a moment of bewilderment appearing in their eyes. They actually spoke up: “Your Highness, didn’t you earlier look forward to seeing the beautiful scene of snow falling on the red plum blossoms? Why have you changed your mind now that we’re almost there?”
Xu Jiao narrowed her eyes.
Before she could speak, Nie Yunyue on the other side had already turned around, his eyes showing obvious surprise. He then actively walked towards Xu Jiao, holding a folding fan inlaid with white jade in his hand, clearly meant for showing off in this cold weather.
He cupped his hands towards Xu Jiao: “Crown Prince, we meet again.”
Xu Jiao’s gaze swept over the palace servant beside her, already guessing that her impromptu outing tonight had been leaked by someone with ulterior motives. If the previous encounter with Nie Yunyue after the palace banquet was just a coincidence, now that he had bumped into her again, Xu Jiao wasn’t foolish enough not to realize she was being deliberately set up.
Even knowing she had been schemed against, she didn’t seem particularly nervous. Her face remained calm as she nodded, but her first words were:
“Young Master Nie, if I were you, I wouldn’t be happy about meeting the Crown Prince of Da Yan.”
Nie Yunyue blinked, as if not understanding Xu Jiao’s meaning. A faint smile appeared on his face: “I don’t know what Your Highness means?”
Even though he was also the crown prince of Liang, just because he was now a hostage in an enemy country, he had to show such politeness when facing Xu Jiao, who held an equal status to him. It was hard to tell if it was sincere or fake, at least from his appearance.
He thought this Da Yan crown prince would be easy to manipulate, and had already planned to use Xu Jiao as a pawn to help her contend against Yu Ye, disrupting Da Yan’s situation and using the chaos to return to his own country.
Who knew that this little crown prince, raised in the deep palace and rarely appearing in court, would look at him as if she had read everything, with clear eyes full of understanding.
Nie Yunyue heard her say: “First, Yu Ye is not stupid. Second, I’m not as foolish as you think.”
After saying these two sentences, Xu Jiao lost interest in appreciating the plum blossoms and turned to walk back. After just two steps, fluttering snowflakes fell on her head, quickly covering it with a layer of silver.
A slightly damp chill spread across her head.
She tilted her head slightly and saw the palace maid holding the umbrella still hadn’t reacted. She directly took the umbrella from her hand and held it herself as she walked back.
Only when her hand was empty did the servant react to what had happened. She lifted her skirts and quickly went in Xu Jiao’s direction, saying softly: “Your Highness!”
Xu Jiao’s steps paused slightly, her gaze still on the path ahead, but her voice was directed at the maid beside her: “You need not follow. The Eastern Palace doesn’t keep disloyal things. Serve your new master well.”
The maid was stunned upon hearing this, inexplicable panic flashing through her heart. Not caring how cold the snowy ground was, she immediately knelt down and said to Xu Jiao:
“Your Highness! This servant doesn’t understand!”
But Xu Jiao didn’t respond to her again, only leaving her with a gradually distant figure.
After returning to the palace.
Xu Jiao walked into the hall where floor heating had been prepared. Someone naturally came up to remove her cloak. Even though her expression hadn’t changed much, the people in the palace were all shrewd, and many serving maids could see that she was in a bad mood. Thus, for a moment, the only sound in the hall was the crackling of the lamp wick in the lotus-shaped candleholder in the corner.
Her gaze swept over the faces of the maids around her in turn, as if trying to discern through their appearances who exactly was a mole in this hall. The light in the room was not bright, and at first glance, these people seemed like blurred ghosts hiding in the shadows.
Xu Jiao calmly withdrew her gaze and went straight to the inner hall, lying down without making a fuss.
The next day, she was awakened by the pain in her throat.
Perhaps because she had been cooped up in the Eastern Palace without much movement, although her daily diet was carefully nourished, Xu Jiao’s constitution showed no obvious improvement. She raised her hand to rub her forehead, opened her eyes intending to sit up, but unexpectedly found an additional figure by her bed.
A faint cold fragrance wafted over from the other person.
She squinted her eyes and recognized the visitor—
It was Yu Ye.
Not far from the bed, palace servants knelt silently on the ground.
Sensing the movement behind her, Yu Ye turned her face, her eyes carrying a hint of coldness, like a tempered blade. Her voice also scraped into Xu Jiao’s ears like a steel knife:
“Has Your Highness finally deigned to wake up? It seems yesterday’s rendezvous was quite enjoyable.”
Xu Jiao raised her hand to rub her temples, ignoring Yu Ye’s sarcastic tone. She also didn’t seem surprised that Yu Ye knew about her movements. Her gaze swept around the room, quickly locking onto the teapot and cups on the wooden table nearby. She lifted the quilt, preparing to get out of bed.
But before her feet could touch the ground, her shoulder was pressed down by Yu Ye.
“A few days without seeing you, and Your Highness has become increasingly disrespectful. I sit here talking to you, and you treat it as wind passing by your ears?”
Xu Jiao took a deep breath.
She turned her head to face Yu Ye, as if using all her patience to suppress the pain in her throat and the irritation in her mind. Then, she spoke with an extremely hoarse voice:
“General Yu.”
“If the matter isn’t urgent, could you allow me to drink some water before answering your questions?”
Hearing her raspy voice, Yu Ye felt it was somewhat grating and also felt a bit uncomfortable. After making eye contact with Xu Jiao for a second, she still didn’t let go of her hand. Instead, she turned her gaze to the palace servants not far away.
Someone trembled under her gaze but had already understood her order. They shuffled backward on their knees for a few steps before carefully rising with a bent back to pour a cup of warm tea and bring it to the bedside.
Xu Jiao raised her hand to accept it, moistening her throat. Then she heard Yu Ye say: “The imperial physician has already come to check. Your Highness has caught a cold. The medicine is already being prepared in the kitchen. However—could Your Highness tell me why, after staying within the palace without going out for days, you suddenly had the interest to go out on a snowy night?”
Xu Jiao didn’t want to beat around the bush with her and said directly: “Who I met yesterday, General Yu should know clearly. Why bother asking again?”
If Yu Ye wanted to kill her, putting a “treason” hat on her head and casually letting the Jinyi Wei bribe her palace maids to bear false witness would definitely ensure Xu Jiao’s death.
If Yu Ye had no intention of killing her, then whether she spoke or not didn’t make much difference.
Xu Jiao found that she didn’t want to deal with this person anymore.
So tiring.
Yu Ye curled her lips, revealing a meaningful smile: “I did indeed send some people to watch over Your Highness, but last night Your Highness didn’t bring many people with you. I fear what they reported might not be the truth, so I came to verify with Your Highness, lest someone sully Your Highness’s reputation.”
Xu Jiao looked at the teacup in her hand, considering whether she could directly knock out the female lead and move on to the next book.
Seeing her unmoved, Yu Ye thought she was refusing to answer her question. She turned her gaze to the palace maids at her feet, casually picking one to ask: “You tell me, who was Your Highness’s appointment with yesterday when she went out?”
Xu Jiao had no impression of that palace maid and couldn’t even tell what position she held in the palace.
As soon as she looked up, Xu Jiao heard her say: “This servant doesn’t know… It’s just that yesterday when Your Highness said she wanted to appreciate the plum blossoms, we maids followed along and found that the crown prince of Liang, Nie Yunyue, happened to be there too.”
These words sounded quite clever.
It made it seem as if Xu Jiao had deliberately arranged to meet someone there.
Yu Ye raised an eyebrow and asked: “Do you know what the punishment is for slandering the royal family?”
The palace maid immediately began to tremble, kneeling on the ground and repeatedly crying out: “General Yu, please spare me! This servant dares not! Every word this servant said is true!”
But Yu Ye just shook her head and ordered people to drag her away.
Then she said softly: “Beat her to death.”
If it were someone else playing the role of crown prince, they would definitely be trembling by now, thinking Yu Ye was killing the chicken to scare the monkey, even producing a sense of crisis that when the lips are gone, the teeth get cold. They would either plead for the servant or be scared out of their wits. However, Xu Jiao calmly watched as she questioned several people one after another and then had them all dragged away to be beaten to death. She actually seemed to see through something.
Among these people, there were several who overlapped with those she suspected yesterday of being planted spies.
Yu Ye…
Was actually helping her clean house?
Why would she do this? Finding a reason to kill her and then directly taking the throne herself would be much better, why go to all this trouble?
Xu Jiao couldn’t quite understand, but because Yu Ye’s attitude wasn’t directed at her, it made her slightly change her mind. When Yu Ye smiled and looked over, asking her again about last night’s appointment, she actually replied with words that weren’t so cutting:
“An appointment with nature itself.”
“It’s now the cold winter of the twelfth lunar month, and the plum blossoms are in full bloom. If I didn’t go to see such a beautiful scene, wouldn’t it be a waste of this fine time and scenery?”
Yu Ye saw her calm expression and asked again: “Oh? Then what does Your Highness think about Nie Yunyue’s appearance?”
Xu Jiao glanced at her and reluctantly continued speaking with her not-so-good voice: “He’s now nearly seventeen, almost at the age of manhood. In Liang, he should be able to attend court with the King of Liang and participate in state affairs. If nothing went wrong, he should have inherited the throne. Who would have thought that this time, Liang would be suddenly attacked and defeated by the three countries of Qi, Chu, and Yan, and he would be pressed to come as a hostage. Observing his actions and behavior, he’s not a useless fool. I suspect he has prepared some ‘small gifts’ for Da Yan.”
“The reason he keeps meeting with me one after another is probably because he thinks he looks good, and I’m a woman who hasn’t seen much of the world, locked in the deep palace, so I should be suitable to be his pawn.”
Yu Ye laughed for no apparent reason.
Her eyes also sparkled with starlight.
When she heard the Jinyi Wei report the news last night, even after hearing all the conversations between Xu Jiao and Nie Yunyue recounted, she still couldn’t help but have some doubts. In fact, she wasn’t really interested in the throne of Da Yan, but she was even less willing to see that she had chosen the wrong person again.
Yu Ye actually had a bit of a conflict.
So she couldn’t help but come to test Xu Jiao.
But unexpectedly…
This crown prince surprised her expectations once again.
Making her feel that—
The throne of Da Yan should indeed be prepared for this person.
Yu Ye was lost in thought for just a moment before quickly coming back to her senses. She followed up on Xu Jiao’s words with interest: “Oh? Then what does Your Highness think of Nie Yunyue’s appearance?”
Xu Jiao glanced at her, her eyes revealing some bewilderment, not knowing why this person suddenly veered off topic while interrogating her. But she still patiently answered:
“Not bad—”
After all, being handsome is a standard configuration for male protagonists.
“It’s just that he used his beauty plan on the wrong person.”
Yu Ye raised an eyebrow: “Oh? Does the Crown Prince already have someone they fancy? May this subject know who it is?” If it weren’t for having someone she liked, how could she not be moved by a man with Nie Yunyue’s appearance?
She wanted to see how Xu Jiao would explain.
Xu Jiao put down the now-empty teacup beside her, her tone carrying a hint of indifference: “Whether I have someone I fancy or not doesn’t matter. It’s just that Nie Yunyue would be better off sending a pretty maid rather than personally trying to seduce me.”
Yu Ye: “…”
Yu Ye: “?”
For a moment, she doubted her own comprehension abilities.
What did the Crown Prince just say? She said Nie Yunyue’s attraction to her couldn’t compare to that of a maid?
What does this mean?
“Your Highness’s words—” Yu Ye was quiet for two seconds before slowly speaking again.
Xu Jiao directly interrupted her, her gaze intense as she met Yu Ye’s eyes: “It means I don’t like men. Is General Yu reassured now?”
Enough probing, right? No more suspicions of treason, right?
However, Yu Ye was stumped by the words “reassured” in her speech, and her thoughts actually went astray.
The first thought that popped into her mind was:
As expected of a member of the Xu family, truly a madwoman.
Then, some strange conversations from her previous interactions with Xu Jiao surfaced in her mind:
“Sending you someone to serve in bed.”
“For whom?”
“Me.”
“Oh, General Yu has good taste.”
…
“Could it be that you actually fancy my beauty and want to experience the thrill of having a royal under you, so you creatively gave me a chance to live?”
“General Yu, do you really want me to serve you in bed?”
“General Yu is truly hard to please.”
“A few days ago, the Crown Prince sent a message from the palace saying that she noticed you didn’t touch any meat dishes at the table. Guessing that you might not like meat, she specially gave the kitchen a few recipes…”
…
All those seemingly crazy words she had heard before suddenly made sense.
So, it turns out that the Crown Prince actually likes women.
And just now, Xu Jiao’s words “It means I don’t like men. Is General Yu reassured now?”
Reassured about what?
Could it be…
The person Xu Jiao likes is actually…
her?
Yu Ye was startled by her own guess, and she didn’t even wait for Xu Jiao’s medicine to be ready. She just found an excuse and left the Eastern Palace.
Walking on the road, a subordinate beside her asked curiously: “General, now that the Eastern Palace is short of palace maids, should this subordinate select some more people to send over?”
To send over for what? Naturally, to monitor Xu Jiao.
Yu Ye’s steps paused slightly: “Choose some with good martial skills and loyalty.”
This meant she didn’t want to arrange people.
That subordinate was bewildered for a moment, thinking that when Yu Ye came to the Eastern Palace earlier, she didn’t seem to have this intention: “This…”
Yu Ye thought for a moment and added: “You send people directly, the Crown Prince might be overly cautious. In a few days, you directly let the palace steward bring people over and let Her Highness choose the ones she likes. Just one thing, investigate the backgrounds of those palace maids thoroughly. If anything happens to Her Highness, I’ll hold you responsible.”
“Understood.” The subordinate finally stopped talking.
Yu Ye, however, raised her hand to fan herself as she walked.
As if it weren’t the depths of winter, but rather the height of summer.
Those pitch-black eyes of hers rarely showed a hint of distress as she seriously considered:
With Xu Jiao’s sexual orientation, how could she turn her around?
But she likes herself, she must have fallen in love at first sight. If she roughly pushes her towards others or arranges some understanding male companions, it would surely displease her.
No wonder she felt this crown prince was clever and obedient before. Now Yu Ye finally understood the key to this—
Because Xu Jiao likes her.
So she wants to show her best side, yet never does anything to betray her.
Thinking of this, Yu Ye let out a soft sigh, feeling that this problem was somewhat thorny. Her mind was occupied by this big question, which could be summarized as:
Urgent! Online consultation! How can I politely reject someone without hurting them, while still ensuring they continue to listen to me in the future?
After leaving a message, go to favorites, arrange, understand?
Yu Ye is such a narcissist 😭😭