Chapter 4.2

Before he could think on it further, Su Jiao had already taken a clean cloth, dampened it with water, and was carefully cleaning his wound. Because he had knelt in the Buddhist hall for so long, no matter how gentle her hands were, a piercing pain was unavoidable. Xie Yan’s handsome face grew even paler, and the hand at his side clenched tight again and again.

Her hands were swift. In no time at all the wound was bandaged. Xie Yan bowed his head and could see her intent eyes and the lightness of her touch. His wounds ached terribly, yet in spite of it all he found himself, with rare and unexpected humor, thinking:

Su Jiao from five years ago was not as sharp-edged as she became later. When she wasn’t speaking, she was actually quite a good deal more agreeable.

He was still thinking this when there was a sudden tightening at his leg — Su Jiao had finished securing the bandage, and spoke at the same time.

“How have you thought over what I said before I left?”

Xie Yan was taken aback. He had just been considering how to draw information out of her, when the very person he had just found “agreeable” came straight to the point.

“How have you thought over the matter of separation I mentioned before I left?”

In an instant, Xie Yan’s gaze froze.

He remembered it clearly — there had been absolutely no such talk of separation at this time in his past life.

Since returning from rebirth, the snake venom and the separation — these were already two matters he had no memory of whatsoever.

“You——”

“Your Highness the Prince. My Lady the Prince’s Consort.”

Hurried footsteps came rapidly through from outside the hall, and Changlin’s entrance cut off whatever Xie Yan had not yet finished saying.

“His Majesty’s imperial carriage has returned to the palace. Upon learning that Your Highness left the Buddhist hall without permission this morning, His Majesty flew into a great rage and summons you now to be questioned.”

Xie Yan’s hand paused in the act of lifting his robe hem.

There was also the matter of forcing his way out of the Buddhist hall?

Su Jiao looked over in equal surprise.

Before either of them could react further, Eunuch Feng from Emperor Jia’s side had already arrived and taken Xie Yan away.

The moment he had left, an old eunuch slipped silently back in.

“His Majesty summons My Lady the Prince’s Consort to come as well.”

Yongning Hall was a great distance from Qianqing Palace, and the eunuch on the road walked with a dragging, unhurried shuffle. Su Jiao had only just arrived at Qianqing Palace when she heard a thunderous shout from within.

“Get out of my sight — starting today, you will kneel in the Buddhist hall for a full three hours every day.”

She stepped over the threshold, and immediately a scalding cup of tea came flying toward her. Su Jiao’s vision blurred as the fine porcelain cup went straight for Xie Yan’s forehead and shattered to the floor with a crash.

Fresh crimson blood trickled down from his forehead, making an already pallid face appear even more ghastly. Xie Yan looked up and met Su Jiao’s eyes for a moment. Her heart lurched, and instinctively she moved a step forward.

Before she could reach him, Eunuch Feng had already positioned himself before Xie Yan like an immovable mountain.

“Third Prince, this way please.”

The few remaining attendants filed out, and in an instant the room held only Su Jiao and Emperor Jia.

The gaze from the dais — still carrying its anger — fell on her with scrutiny. Su Jiao knelt obediently.

“May Father Emperor be well.”

From the dais, silence stretched on. Su Jiao’s heart went up and down with unease.

In her past life, she and this imperial father-in-law had only met twice in total. The first time was at the three-day return visit after the wedding. The second was the day Xie Yan led his forces against the palace.

She hadn’t expected that in this reborn life, the two of them would end up meeting yet one more time.

The silence from the dais continued for quite a while. When he finally spoke, all the fury had been reined in, and his voice was authoritative and impossible to read.

“Where were you today when he went to the Buddhist hall?”

Su Jiao’s heart tightened at once. She allowed a look of appropriate confusion to show on her face.

“This daughter-in-law was naturally waiting in Yongning Hall the whole time for His Highness to return.”

“You didn’t go out? The Empress says that her eunuchs stationed in Yongning Hall today did not see you.”

“Father Emperor sees clearly. Since you gave the order, how would this daughter-in-law dare disobey? Perhaps at that time your daughter-in-law was in the rear hall, and Eunuch Xu simply didn’t catch sight of her.”

She held firmly to this account and would not budge.

Even if the Empress’s people hadn’t found her, there was no proof of where she had gone. Su Jiao had no intention of walking into a trap of her own accord.

Emperor Jia studied her steadily for a moment. Just when Su Jiao expected him to press further, he instead changed the subject entirely, his tone softening somewhat.

“Dear minister Su’s daughter — do you feel you are suffering by staying with that unruly son in Yongning Hall?”

Su Jiao couldn’t decipher his meaning, but brought every bit of her attention to bear.

“This daughter-in-law does not feel that she suffers at all.”

“This marriage was personally bestowed by Zhen. He has reached the proper age, and it was right that he should have a prince’s consort to look after him and temper his disposition. You are young and naturally inclined to run about and enjoy yourself, but now that you have entered the palace, you must properly uphold the three obediences and four virtues, and must not casually break the rules by going out, nor allow yourself to develop improper thoughts.”

“This daughter-in-law would not dare.”

She was all docility on her face. Emperor Jia’s expression closed off, and he looked down at her from on high.

“Zhen also happened to encounter your father and elder brother in Shanglin Garden yesterday. Zhen could see that your father was very pleased by this marriage of yours.”

A father who never tired of selling off his daughter to curry favor — how could he not be pleased?

Before Su Jiao could say another word, Emperor Jia had already risen and moved toward the door, leaving behind a parting remark whose meaning was veiled.

“When one prospers, all prosper together. If you conduct yourself properly here in the palace, your father will naturally flourish all the more in the outer court. The reverse is equally true.”

Su Jiao froze on the spot. The instant she grasped the meaning of his words, a chill spread through her entire body.

Emperor Jia knew she had indeed gone out. He had not believed a word she said. He had merely assumed that she had left because she could not bear the austerity of Yongning Hall, and so every word of warning he had delivered tied her every action to her maternal family. He wanted her to stay quietly in Yongning Hall.

On the way back from Qianqing Palace, sitting in the empty room, Su Jiao felt a dull ache in her head.

Emperor Jia’s meaning could not have been clearer. The marriage had been bestowed by his own hand, and he would not permit any further ripples to disturb it. If she were now to urge Xie Yan to speak of separation, would that not be a slap in this Emperor’s face?

It seemed that speaking directly was not going to work. She would have to find another way.

Su Jiao sat on the edge of the bed, racking her brains to think of some means by which she might walk peacefully out of Yongning Hall. She sat this way through the entire morning.

Until the afternoon sunlight slanted through the latticed windows, and Xie Yan was slowly helped through the outer door by Changlin. The wound on his forehead had already scabbed over, but the wound on his leg that had been bandaged earlier had split open again, fresh blood dripping steadily downward.

He limped into the room, and the gazes of the two of them fell on each other at the same moment.