Chapter 37
Li Wenjian gently brushed away the strands of hair that had fallen out of place as she rose from her seat.
She possessed an unyielding resilience, yet also a fierce determination to remain unbroken. So why would she shed tears over such a trivial matter?
Zhao Heng shook her head. "Your Highness," she said, "I am not crying. I am smiling."
Yet, her voice trembled with unshed tears.
Li Wenjian moved slightly, allowing the soft moonlight to fall upon her face, revealing the faint smile on her lips and the glimmer of tears in her eyes.
"Your Highness," Zhao Heng whispered, "I am filled with unease. The more kindness you show me, the more fearful I become."
Li Wenjian listened to her words in silence, waiting for her to continue, but she remained quiet, her gaze fixed on the man before her, who stood tall and unwavering like a towering pine tree.
"Why do you feel such unease?" he asked gently.
Zhao Heng sniffed, her voice barely a whisper. "You are as pure as the frost and snow," she said, "while I am the one blemish on your otherwise spotless life, the only source of your shame. What could I possibly have done to deserve such treatment from you? Whenever I receive something that should not belong to me, I am filled with fear and trepidation..."
"Why would you be my blemish, my shame?" Li Wenjian interrupted her.
Zhao Heng pressed her lips together, about to speak, but Li Wenjian continued, "I am the one who has done wrong, so how could you be my blemish and shame? Should it not be the other way around?"
"How could that be?" Zhao Heng exclaimed, her voice laced with urgency, as if fearing he would not believe her words.
"Treating you with kindness is my duty," Li Wenshan explained. "From a public standpoint, you are my subject, sworn to my protection. From a personal perspective, you are my...bedchamber companion. If I cannot even care for one person, how can I possibly speak of governing a nation?"
Zhao Heng deeply felt the caring and protection akin to the clear moon and gentle breeze. This care had nothing to do with romantic feelings, but rather seeped into her heart like spring rain, slowly nourishing and warming the coldness that had lingered in her heart for years within the palace.
She could lie without blinking to negotiate with Jiang Jin, fearlessly use a hairpin to press against Aunt Chen's neck to keep her secrets safe, and calmly deal with Ruo Zhen...
But when faced with kindness from others, she found it hard to control herself.
She closed her eyes, tears choking her sobs.
Suddenly, she felt a warmth on her back.
Li Wenjian gently smoothed away her sadness, his touch soothing her in a gentle rhythm.
"If you cry again, I'll be even more sinful," Li Wenjian whispered softly.
Zhao Heng stopped crying, opening her eyes to give him a tender smile.
"Okay, I won't cry anymore," Zhao Heng wiped her eyes and looked into Li Wenjian's eyes. "In the future, I won't call myself your disgrace, and you don't have to feel sinful towards me anymore."
She didn't want to be his sin, to stain his life, but wanted to be a beautiful part of it.
Li Wenjian felt a bit confused. Without this burden of guilt, what would be left between them?
All his kindness towards her was driven by duty and guilt. If he stripped away this layer, what would they have to sustain their relationship?
"Okay." Though he couldn't quite understand at that moment, he couldn't bring himself to refuse her request as she shed tears.
Li Wenjian gazed at her for a while, her pitiful sniffles echoing in his ears. She leaned down, raised her hand, and gently wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.
Zhao Heng's crying gradually subsided.
She gently pushed away Li Wenjian's hand, her red and swollen eyes meeting his as she choked out softly, "I won't cry anymore, Your Highness."
"Are you going to sleep?" Li Wenjian used his fingertip to wipe away the traces of tears from her temples.
His breath almost landed on Zhao Heng's face, a warm but not hot sensation.
Zhao Heng nodded, saying, "I want to try... if I can sleep without Your Highness's help."
His Highness couldn't always be by her side, and she couldn't always depend on him.
"Okay," Li Wenjian said. "Sleep. I'll leave."
Zhao Heng watched as he turned and walked out of the room, the two doors slowly closing in the dense night.
The next day, Zhao Heng woke up from a night full of nightmares. She dreamt of Jiang Jin coming to take her life, and Ruo Zhen forcibly bringing her back to the Yue Tribe and locking her up with cattle and horses...
The tumultuous night had left her feeling drained the next day, with dark circles under her eyes.
Examining the bruises under her eyes in the mirror, she silently rubbed her messy hair. Was His Highness's acupressure technique really that effective?
One day without it, and she looked like this?
Now wasn't the time to dwell on this. She hurriedly went to the basin, splashing cold water on her face and vigorously washing it to wake herself up quickly.
Today was a rest day for the Academy, so she didn't have to go to class. After a quick breakfast, she took the improved sleeping drug and headed to the Beast Garden.
As time passed, Ruo Zhen's watchful eyes were like a venomous snake, and if she didnât deal with him soon, she would have even more trouble sleeping at night.
The morning breeze was cool, much different from the scorching afternoon.
On this visit to the Beast Garden, Lian Zhou was highly focused, constantly scanning her surroundings, fearing that Ruo Zhen might suddenly appear from somewhere.
Seeing her on edge like she was facing a major enemy, Zhao Heng felt a twinge of pity.
As they passed by Lin An Chi, they saw a crowd of people gathered by the pond.
"It's really unlucky, to come across a corpse retrieval," Lian Zhou supported Zhao Heng towards another path. "Let's take a detour through the Garden of Scenery."
Zhao Heng nodded and was about to leave when a sudden shout rang out, "They've found it, they've found it."
She glanced back and saw several people in the pond lifting up a body, the hands tied with hemp rope, while others on the shore pulled forcefully.
As the head emerged from the water, Zhao Heng could see the face clearly, causing her to freeze for a moment.
âThe person who had died was the eunuch who had bullied Yue Li in the Beast Garden!
"Master, what's wrong?" Lian Zhou asked with concern, seeing her silent for a while.
Zhao Heng stared ahead motionlessly at the crowd of people and said, "Let's go and inquire."
"What is there to ask about?" Lian Zhou questioned.
"You wait here," Zhao Heng recalled Lian Zhou's nightmares after seeing the drowned body of Shao Ying.
Seeing Zhao Heng heading towards the crowd, Lian Zhou hesitated for a moment but eventually followed after her.
They had already pulled up the body, which appeared lifeless, with wide-open eyes. Zhao Heng instinctively glanced at his right hand, the palm of which was still not healed and blistered from the water.
As Zhao Heng approached, they immediately bowed in respect.
Frowning, Zhao Xuan asked, "What happened? Who is he?"
Someone replied, "Reply to Zhaoxun, this person is Liu, the manager of the Beast Garden. He didn't return to his residence last night and was found in the lake this morning."
"Oh..." Zhao Heng glanced at him and instructed them to clean up quickly before pulling Lian Zhou away.
Her brows furrowed deeply as they walked, her expression serious.
Seeing that Zhao Heng wasn't in the mood to talk, Lian Zhou wisely kept quiet, not uttering a word.
Upon reaching the Beast Garden, Zhao Heng first fed the animals before heading towards Yue Li's courtyard.
Unexpectedly, she encountered a group of people outside Yue Li's courtyard, upon closer inspection, they turned out to be from the Palace Bureau.
"I saw Manager Liu coming here yesterday, he must have been looking for her," a young eunuch pointed at Yue Li excitedly. "Last time Manager Liu came to see her, he was injured by her and said he wanted to seek justice. Yesterday around late evening, he called her to Hua Chun Pavilion. She must have killed him and pushed him into Lin An Chi!"
An elderly person who she had met the previous day anxiously interjected, "It can't be true, Yue Li can't bear to harm even an ant, how could she have killed someone!"
She dares to tame even the fiercest tiger, what else would she not dare to do!" The young eunuch jumped up and said, "She is your disciple, of course, you would stand by her."
After saying this, he turned to the palace supervisor, Yang Shangyi, and said, "Shangyi, this vile woman is very stubborn. Take her back to the palace supervisor's office, torture her severely, she won't be able to withstand it and will confess."
Yang Shangyi did not expect so many deaths in the palace this year. She was already troubled by how to handle it if she was questioned by her superiors. Hearing this, she looked coldly at Yue Li. She truly did not expect the usually obedient Yue Li to do such a thing!
"Do you have anything to say?"
"Madam Shangyi, she is mute, she cannot speak. Even if she is wronged, she cannot plead her case. How do you expect her to talk!" The old man crawled up from the ground, tears in his eyes, pushing Yue Li towards Yang Shangyi, "Madam Shangyi, you knew this child back when you were in the Beast Garden. She was so well-behaved and sensible, how could she possibly be a killer!"
"Isn't she able to write?" The words of the old man reminded Yang Shangyi of the past Yue Li. Yue Li used to be a very obedient child. At that time, she had not yet become the supervisor of the palace and was still the head of the Beast Garden.
What was Yue Li like back then...
She thought carefully. She was as bright as a spring breeze, radiant like the sun, and when she smiled, the spring flowers on the mountains paled in comparison to her beauty.
If it were just a face, she might not have remembered her after so many years.
But Yue Li was her most capable assistant. No matter how fierce the beast that was sent to her, it wouldn't take long for it to bow its head and obey.
General Wei Zhan once brought back a bright red steed that he had been training on the field for over a month, but it refused to obey him. He loved that horse and heard that there was a talented horse tamer in the Beast Garden, so he brought it there. Before long, Yue Li had trained the horse well.
General Wei was delighted and generously rewarded everyone in the Beast Garden.
After the horse was tamed, it indeed became a good horse, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day, and became General Wei's favorite mount. It was said that General Wei once rode it around the enemy's blockade, raided the enemy's main camp at night, and took the enemy leader's head.
The emperor was delighted and personally wrote a decree to bestow a name - Strong Wind.
Fierce and swift like the wind.
Later, Yang Shangyi went to the palace supervisory office and wanted to promote Yue Li to follow her. With her talent and intelligence, she would have eventually made a name for herself in the palace supervisory office. But she refused, saying she liked the Beast Garden, liked dealing with wild beasts full of savagery.
She really was a strange woman.
But not long after, Yue Li got into trouble.
It was said that she got frostbite and was still sitting by the fire at the end of spring. As a result, the fire licked her blanket at night, causing a big fire, burning her throat and her face.
She visited her once after that, and she was unrecognizable...
The once cheerful woman in the Beast Garden had completely changed.
Many years had passed in the blink of an eye, and Yang Shangyi did not expect to see her again in such a situation. Looking at the shrunken woman in front of her, she felt a twinge of pity. Thinking of her beautiful calligraphy from before, she ordered, "Prepare paper and pen for her."
The paper and pen were quickly brought, and Yang Shangyi said, "Write."
After many years of not picking up a pen, when Yue Li held the pen again, her hand trembled so fiercely that the tip of the pen landed on the paper, instantly becoming a blot of ink. Her hand continued to tremble incessantly, and after a while, she managed to leave a few crooked and twisted words on the paper: "I didn't do it."
"You didn't?" The young eunuch sneered, "Then where were you after the hour of the dog yesterday?"
Yue Li's hand holding the pen continued to shake, and the ink on the tip of the pen kept dripping down, soon forming a black stain on the ground.
"Feeling guilty? Can't speak the truth?" the young eunuch said, "You better confess quickly. Yang Shangyi is known for upholding justice. If you confess truthfully, you may be spared some pain. If you don't cooperate, you'll suffer greatly."
Xue Lao cried with tears streaming down his face, shaking Yue Li's sleeve, "Where did you go? Just tell them."
Yue Li lifted the pen again.
Everyone looked as she wrote on the paper - "Inside the house!"
"Impossible!" the young eunuch exclaimed, "At the hour of the dog, I passed by your door. You were not inside at all."
He shook his robe, then knelt in front of Yang Shangyi, "Yang Shangyi, my master died under suspicious circumstances, you have to intervene for him. Last night, I and Xiaoning went to the gates of Huanhe Garden together. If you don't believe me, you can call him over to question us together. If I tell a lie, you can torture me and execute me slowly and painfully!"
"Yue Li, tell me honestly, where were you last night?" Yang Shangyi suddenly raised her voice.
Startled, Xue Lao also knelt down tremulously, tugging at Yue Li's sleeve, "Child, tell Shangyi quickly, only she can save you now."
Yue Li vehemently shook her head in denial, her throat making sobbing sounds, but no one could understand her words.
Yang Shangyi closed her eyes and said coldly, "Take her away."
Several palace servants immediately stepped forward and took Yue Li to the palace supervisor's office, dragging the struggling Yue Li. Swearing from the palace women and the muffled sobs of the distressed woman could be heard intermittently.
Zhao Heng and Lian Zhou stood under a cluster of flowering trees by the roadside, urging her sensibly to leave quickly and not get involved in these matters.
However, her feet seemed to be rooted to the spot, unable to move.
She looked through the gaps in the branches of the flowering tree towards Yue Li's small courtyard.
Yue Li curled up on the ground, clinging desperately to a lush osmanthus tree in the courtyard. The palace servants forcibly pried open her fingers one by one and dragged her away.
In the struggle, her nails split, and blood poured out.
Lian Zhou stood behind her, watching in horror, whispering softly, "Master..."
Zhao Hong's whole body felt cold.
A sharp voice in her mind reminded her - don't go, don't interfere, you're not the savior of Mount Putuo, you're already in a precarious situation as it is, how can you take care of others?
Everyone should be held accountable for their actions. When she killed Supervisor Liu, she should have thought about this moment.
Yue Li gradually lost the strength to resist. Her previous intense resistance gradually weakened, her collar was pulled open, revealing a slender neck with a few bruises.
Zhao Heng's eyes suddenly stung.
In that moment, rationality was ultimately overwhelmed by emotions, and she trembled, saying, "Stop."
The few people who were dragging someone were startled when they heard this voice, quickly turned around, and saw Zhao Heng, but did not recognize her. Although Yang Shangyi did not recognize her either, after many years in the palace, she guessed Zhao Heng's identity from her attire and quickly bowed in greeting, asking, "Greeting Zhaoxun."
Seeing Zhao Heng, Xue Lao recognized her as the noblewoman who was watching Yue Li train horses at the racetrack yesterday. He didn't expect such a amiable person to be the newly appointed Zhaoxun of the crown prince, and he trembled as he also bowed in respect, tears in his eyes as he pleaded to Zhao Heng, "Your Highness, please save Yue Li."
The group released Yue Li, who was struggling.
She slowly got up from the ground, knelt in front of Zhao Heng, her eyes showing no fear or hesitation, but instead a cold indifference towards the world.
Knowing the answer already, Zhao Heng asked, "What happened?"
"Your Highness," Yang Shangyi replied, "Yesterday night, a steward in the Menagerie drowned, and some say he was looking for Yue Li before he died."
"When was this?" Zhao Heng asked.
"Before the Dog hour, the master asked her to come to Hua Spring Pavilion," a young eunuch interrupted.
"Before the Dog hour?" Zhao Heng asked.
The young eunuch nodded assuredly, "Yes, it was around the Dog hour."
"Well, that's strange," Zhao Heng chuckled lightly. "Yesterday, I found an injured cat on the palace road and specifically went to the Menagerie to ask her to help me treat it."
Yue Li glanced at her, and Zhao Heng pretended not to see, turning to Lian Zhou and asking, "When did she go to the Sloping Sun Pavilion?"
"It seems to have been near the Rooster hour," Lian Zhou's heart was pounding rapidly, but she could only continue following Zhao Heng's lead, saying, "It wasn't dark yet at that time."
"I encountered an injured cat in the Sloping Sun Pavilion, locked it in a room after I found it injured, then brought a palace maid to the Menagerie, where Yue Li was training horses. The Prince sent for me, so I left her a message and left," Zhao Heng mixed truth and lies as she spoke.
"When did she leave?" the young eunuch asked anxiously.
Yang Shangyi sensed his ill-intentions and quickly glanced at him. He was the Prince's only confidant, and no one dared to speak to her in that tone.
She was worried whether Zhao Heng would blame her, but she heard her gentle voice saying, "I don't know this. Yesterday, the Prince sought me out for something, so I wasn't in the Sloping Sun Pavilion."
"Near the Pig hour end," Lian Zhou continued, enduring her strong heartbeat, "I remember very clearly that she left the Sloping Sun Pavilion near the Pig hour."
"Oh," Zhao Heng's tone trailed off, lips slightly curled, as she asked the young eunuch, "Do you think her master would wait for her in the Hua Spring Pavilion for two hours?"
The young eunuch looked crestfallen, hanging his head, "No..."
"I also think not," Zhao Heng smiled as she turned to Yang Shangyi, "I don't think this matter has much to do with Yue Li."
Yang Shangyi breathed a sigh of relief, as she also didn't believe Yue Li could commit murder.
After all, they were former colleagues, and she couldn't bring herself to punish her.
"Thank you, Zhaoxun. If not for you, I would have likely been wrongly accusing someone today," Yang Shangyi bowed in gratitude to Zhao Heng.
Zhao Heng nodded, exchanged a few pleasantries with her, and then Yang Shangyi left with the subdued young eunuch and maids.
The bustling courtyard suddenly quieted down as Zhao Heng turned to look at Yue Li, who was still kneeling on the ground, her brows furrowed with worry.
She had sheltered a murderer.
She didn't know why she had done it.
Perhaps she saw a reflection of her former self in her, someone who had been bullied and helpless before. Someone who had also fought so hard to stay alive.
She opened her mouth, intending to say something, but upon seeing Yue Li's terrifying visage, she remained silent, supporting Lian Zhou and turning to leave.
Lian Zhou's hand was trembling so violently, both from lying and from a slight chill.
Lian Zhou was a good girl, as pure as a sheet of paper, incapable of lying. Shao Ying had protected her before, and she thought she could do the same, but instead, she had dragged her into this mess.
She hesitated, then asked Lian Zhou, "Do you want to leave the palace? If you do, I will request a favor from the Prince to grant you freedom."
Lian Zhou was momentarily stunned, her eyes turning red with tears. "Does the master think I'm stupid and no longer wants me?"
"No, how could I think you're stupid," Zhao Heng reassured her, squeezing her hand and turning to face her with a gentle smile. "You've seen what I'm about to do, how dangerous and restless it is. One day, I won't know how I'm going to die. Aren't you afraid to follow me and always be on edge?"
Lian Zhou pondered seriously with her head down for a while. When she looked up, her eyes were determined. "Not afraid."
Her parents sent her to the palace to help her brother get married, and even if she left, they might sell her off to an old man as a concubine to support her brother's family.
She didn't want that!
"Really not afraid?" Zhao Heng felt the trembling in her fingertips.
"Not afraid," this time her nod was firm.
Zhao Heng said, "When you lie, don't be scared. You have to deceive yourself first before you can deceive others."
Lian Zhou realized what she meant and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
Zhao Heng went to see the animals used for testing the drugs and found some progress compared to yesterday, but not much.
She suddenly felt a bit disheartened. If the drug was not ready soon, she would have to resort to using a more aggressive method like a sedative.
Drugs could be slipped into tea or snacks without notice, but a sedative required blocking the victim's nose and mouth.
She and Ruo Zhen had a vast difference in physique and strength, making the sedative less reliable compared to the drug.
She always sought stability and would only resort to using the sedative as a last resort.
After Yang Shangyi left with her entourage, they had walked out of the Menagerie when one of the palace maids frowned and asked her, "Shangyi, earlier Zhao Heng said that Yue Li went to treat a cat's wound. Why didn't Yue Li admit to it and instead lied? Don't you find this suspicious?"
"You're not aware, His Highness dislikes furry animals; he breaks out in hives when he comes into contact with cats and dogs," Yang Shangyi said slowly. "I suspect she placed the cat in the Sunlit Pavilion because of this. She probably didn't want His Highness to rebuke her, so she kept quiet."
"But... even if it's a matter of life and death, she still didn't say anything?" the maid exclaimed.
Yang Shangyi smiled, "Yue Li's mouth is more secure than a door locked with ten thousand bolts."
*
On a stormy night, Zhao Heng had been unable to sleep for a long time. The drug was still not ready, and she had to figure out how to use a sedative to incapacitate Ruo Zhen.
A sedative required a high level of cooperation from the other party, but obviously, Ruo Zhen would not cooperate with her!
She thought long and hard but hadn't come up with a solution yet.
Outside, lightning and thunder roared, causing annoyance. She had just turned over when a thunderbolt suddenly exploded on the roof.
With a loud bang, like something had exploded.
Accompanied by this loud thunder, the tiles on the roof fell and shattered with a clatter.
Not knowing what was happening, her instinctive sense of danger prompted her to immediately get up and find something to wear.
The sound of falling tiles seemed to be right above her. As she jumped out of bed, the tiles on the roof continued to fall, along with the loud, crisp sounds of shattering tiles, and rain pouring in.
She frantically searched for her shoes but found the tiles had buried them underneath.
Centered around the hole in the roof, tiles continued to fall, the beam on the roof swaying precariously, appearing as if it were about to collapse.
The cold, eerie light of the lightning outside illuminated a faint glow of fire on the roof.
The night attendant heard the commotion and ran over to see for herself, immediately shouting, "Oh no, oh no, Zhaoxun's sleeping quarters are on fire!"
Zhao Heng looked at the flames and lightning flashing through the gaping hole in her ceiling, feeling a buzzing sensation in her head.
It seemed the heavens were truly unkind to her; she had almost been struck by lightning for telling a lie. She thought to herself self-deprecatingly.
The fire had started to spread along the beam, and even the downpour couldn't stop it. She couldn't delay any longer and grabbed the cool blanket from her bed, throwing it over her head, not even bothering to put on shoes as she desperately ran out of the room.
Focused only on running outside, Zhao Heng didn't notice a figure swiftly approaching through the rain at the same time. Just as she dashed out, she collided into a slightly chilly, damp embrace.
Instinctively, a pair of arms wrapped around her.
In this rainy night, she felt a sense of warmth.
She lifted her gaze and met Li Wenjian's concerned eyes.
The usually dignified and solemn Crown Prince, clad in sleeping attire, had braved the rain, completely soaked, and embraced her in front of the ruined sleeping quarters ravaged by the fire.
"Are you okay?"
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Author's note:
Li Gouzi: Thank you to this timely rain that brought my wife into my arms.
Ah Hong: Heard you're allergic to cat hair? Hehehe.
Because Hua Zheng and a character from a well-known martial arts novel share the same name, I gave her a gentler name - Yue Li.
Sunshine Beast Tamer Girl vs. Spirited Young General (beautiful aesthetics, I'm already crying)