What Bad Intentions can the Yandere Crown Prince have?-Chapter 394 - 390: What If the Crown Prince Can’t Be Trusted
In the wild, there are entwining plants, the dewdrops glistening.
There is a beautiful person, radiant and graceful.
This was the first time Tang Xiaobai came to Liluo Palace, unaware that there was such a wild and intriguing place in the palace.
There were no corridors, no pavilions. Passing through the grand gates, there was a field of fragrant grass taller than the ankle.
Over the fragrant grass, skirts fluttered like clouds and snow, accentuating the palace owner’s celestial beauty even more.
Tang Xiaobai had seen her before. She thought she was a beauty then too, but not as stunning as she found her now.
Is this what they call a stunning aura? She let her mind wander slightly.
"Crown Princess Consort." Beauty Shu rose from a swing beneath the tree, greeting her in a detached tone.
Tang Xiaobai felt a stir in her heart.
Although her tone was indifferent, she had greeted her first. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
In her impression, Beauty Shu never proactively greeted even the Emperor and Empress.
Did this mean they were friendly with each other?
As Tang Xiaobai speculated, she had a gift sent over and exchanged a few pleasantries, asking, "Is Beauty feeling better these days?"
"Thank you for your concern, Crown Princess Consort."
Coldly, without a trace of the joy of impending motherhood.
Tang Xiaobai watched her for a moment and smiled slightly, "I heard Beauty is from the Central Plains, yet your demeanor is quite like that of the genteel south."
Beauty Shu lifted her eyelids to glance at her, saying, "I quite like the southern accent."
Hmm?
The remark was abrupt, leaving Tang Xiaobai momentarily unresponsive.
Beauty Shu continued to speak lazily and indifferently, "There is a palace maid from Jiangnan in Liluo Palace. I asked her, in the Wu-Yue dialect of Jiangnan, how one would say ’Ah Shu’, and she said it was pronounced as—"
She looked at Tang Xiaobai and softly spoke the name "Ah Shu".
Tang Xiaobai’s gaze contracted sharply.
The gentle voice of the Wu dialect caressed the word "Shu", making it sound slightly like "Su" and also like "Su".
This face, she and Li Mu had confirmed before; it belonged to Zhen Su, the Yue girl who disappeared five years ago and was almost granted death by the Emperor, the former lover of Zhao Jing.
Before seeing this person, she had suspected it was Xue Shaoqin’s mysterious fiancée, Su Zhenniang.
The moment the words "Ah Shu" were spoken, the silhouettes of the two women merged in Tang Xiaobai’s mind.
"Ah Su..." Tang Xiaobai mimicked her accent, pronouncing the two words.
Beauty Shu’s lips subtly curled, revealing a faint smile, her frost-and-snow eyes flickering with some elusive emotion.
Looking again at her clad in white, Tang Xiaobai’s perspective shifted, unable to see any of her previous coldness and aloofness.
"Is the Crown Princess Consort here to ask about what happened that night?" Beauty Shu swiftly regained her composure, the smile gone in a blink.
Tang Xiaobai nodded.
"That dagger was indeed brought by Wang Zhaoji herself; I did not lie about this point."
Tang Xiaobai’s gaze sharpened.
If she wasn’t lying about this, then she must be lying about something else?
Wang Zhaoji bringing a dagger could only mean it was intended for her, so how did she run into Beauty Shu?
"I know she arranged to meet someone—" Beauty Shu looked at her deeply.
Tang Xiaobai’s heart suddenly jumped: "You—"
"Your Majesty is here!"
The conversation was abruptly interrupted.
Moments later, the Emperor’s figure appeared at the entrance of Liluo Palace, his hastily flaring robe suggesting urgency in his arrival.
Upon entering the hall, the Emperor strode past Tang Xiaobai, personally helping Beauty Shu up. After gauging her with his eyes, he turned his gaze to Tang Xiaobai, squinting slightly, and asked, "What is the Crown Princess Consort doing here?" His tone surprisingly carried a hint of wariness.
Tang Xiaobai concealed her surprise, lowered her eyes, and answered, "I came to visit Beauty Shu."
The Emperor answered noncommittally with a "Mm," lightly waved his sleeve, "Dismissed."
Tang Xiaobai bowed and withdrew. As she reached the door, she glanced up.
The Emperor was leaning down, speaking softly to Beauty Shu, at first glance seeming even gentle.
Even though Beauty Shu hadn’t looked at him once from the beginning to the end...
...
"His Majesty dotes on Beauty Shu very much indeed—" Tang Xiaobai remarked, her feelings mixed as she marveled.
The uniquely styled palace, the humble attitude, and her attire that bore a resemblance to mourning clothes.
The urgency and sharp, wary eyes of the Emperor when he came in broad daylight, not even bothering to feign benevolence, likely stemmed from his anxieties over Beauty Shu, fearing she might have been bullied?
This was no ordinary affection.
Li Mu showed no interest in such imperial favor: "Wang Zhaoji brought a dagger, intending to meet with you privately. Beauty Shu had already known this and appeared on purpose, didn’t she?"
Tang Xiaobai collected her thoughts and nodded, "That seems to be what she meant. She was present at the scene and surely knows how Wang Zhaoji died. Either she did it herself, or she thinks nobody would believe her if she spoke of it."
Stabbing oneself with a dagger, naturally, would not be easily believed.
Not to mention, Beauty Shu had previously fallen out with Wang Zhaoji.
"Wang Zhaoji bringing a dagger was initially intended for you," Li Mu’s cold gaze leered at her from beneath his eyelashes, "She might have intended to kill you, or... wanted you to kill her."
Tang Xiaobai involuntarily lowered her head to look at her hands.
Though she was neither profoundly literary nor martial, she was raised in a military family, skilled in both riding and archery.
As for Wang Zhaoji, a gentlewoman of the harem, she might be able to harm her, but killing her wouldn’t be easy, especially considering the location was chosen just outside the Water Pavilion.
Therefore—
"If she was truly seeking death, regardless of who appeared, she wouldn’t easily alter her plans;
"What she wanted was to ensure no ties from distant Hengyang would hold her back!"
...
Li Mu’s conjecture was confirmed a month later.
In the sixteenth year of Taixing, in mid-June, the Turkic armies allied with Tibet, launching a surprise attack on the border, and Shibao City fell, resulting in the death of Zhenwu’s commanding general, Zhang Yichao.
"Old Zhang was such a person; when I told him to defend Shibao City, no one could order him to retreat." Tang Ziqian smiled wryly, pouring wine to the ground in the west.
Tang Xiaobai lowered her head, staring at the ground, feeling extremely distressed.
The Turkic riots had been anticipated by them for some time, so the losses were not significant.
Only Zhang Yichao held firm to Shibao City, refusing to retreat even a step, ultimately dying in battle at the city walls.
She remembered Zhang Yichao.
The middle-aged general she met while in Shanzhou, the most rebellious one who did not acknowledge her as the Second Miss of Duke Yan Mansion, nor did he acknowledge Xue Shaojian as the court envoy, even pointing at their noses, calling them "little brats."
The Emperor’s decree could redeploy the entire Zhenwu army, but couldn’t move Zhang Yichao.
Despite being alone, he would stay on the city walls of Shibao City.
"If, if I had informed elder brother of the Turkic’s movements earlier—"
"Did I need you to tell me?" Tang Ziqian chuckled, "We discussed the Turkic’s movements on Dragon Boat Festival; but since I am not in Shanzhou, how could I enforce orders? Surely I couldn’t send a letter urging Zhang Yichao to retreat at the right moment before the battle had even begun, right? With Zhang Yichao’s temperament, even if I said so, he might not listen!"
Tang Xiaobai understood the rationale, but still felt distress.
Tang Ziqian saw her downcast demeanor, smiled, and raised his hand to pat her head, suddenly recalling that his sister had grown and married. He awkwardly retracted his hand, sighed, and consoled, "Don’t overthink it. For military men, wrapping oneself in a horse-hide shroud is a commonplace occurrence."
Tang Xiaobai suddenly lifted her head, eyes bright, "Elder brother, you never used to say that!"
Tang Ziqian was taken aback: "What did I say before?"
Tang Xiaobai pouted, "You said you would earn many military merits so that I and elder sister could spend them as we wished!"
Tang Ziqian’s gaze suddenly drifted as if immersed in memories.
"Elder brother, are you slacking because I married the Crown Prince? Don’t you know that the higher one climbs, the greater the danger, and so many people are waiting to catch my mistakes? What if one day I can’t rely on the Crown Prince? How would I manage without your support?"
Tang Xiaobai originally said this deliberately upon noticing a touch of despondency in Tang Ziqian’s words, but upon finishing, she felt a surge of guilt.
Then, a frightening thing happened.
Tang Ziqian’s gaze swept over her face and then drifted behind her!
Amid Tang Ziqian’s gloating laughter, Tang Xiaobai stiffly turned her head.
A young man in dark robes with a jade crown, a visage as cold as frost, eyes dark as an impending storm.
