Several other young masters from aristocratic families came forward. One of them, who looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old, walked up to Chen Qi, put his elbow on Chen Qi's shoulder, looked at You Yuji and smiled, saying, "Now you should call me Fourth Sister-in-law."
After being reminded, Chen Qi shifted his gaze away from You Yuji.
"Prince Lian, Prince Yi." You Yuzhi greeted the other two princes politely.
Chen Qi and Chen Yinian are the legitimate sons of Prince Pinghuai and Prince Shengxiang respectively. They were also the other two princes that the Empress Dowager Cixi asked You Yujie to select.
As for the youngest, Chen Lian, he is the second son of the current crown prince.
Behind the three princes were two young gentlemen whom You Yuzhi did not know.
"We have some free time today, so we came to play chess and have a drink with our fourth brother. We didn't expect to meet our fourth sister-in-law here. We won't disturb her enjoyment of appreciating the plum blossoms, so we'll go ahead." Chen Lian said.
You Yuji made a few simple polite remarks, then stepped aside and watched the princes leave. She looked at the princes' backs as they left, deep in thought.
Although the crown prince has been appointed for many years, there are undercurrents in the court. Unlike the King of Jinnan who stays away from the court, the King of Pinghuai and the King of Shengxiang both seem to be interested in the throne. After His Majesty passes away, it is still unknown whether the crown prince will ascend the throne. It is hard to say which of these young princes will become successful in the future.
"Regret it?"
You Yuji was stunned for a moment, then turned around and looked at Si Que. She did not answer immediately, but instead stared at a red plum blossom on the branch and fell into deep thought.
She thought of the candles that Dugu had lit on the wedding night. She was always reluctant to recall that day. She even didn't want to think about Chen Anzhi at all.
Si Que looked at her through the white veil and saw that she was silent. He took a step towards her and asked again: "Sister, you must be regretting it. If you had chosen Prince Qi or Prince Yi, you might have been able to enjoy a romantic relationship with your ideal husband."
The breeze blew the white gauze, and You Yujie in Si Que's sight slowly began to smile brilliantly.
"Marrying somewhere else may not be without other difficulties, or even worse results. There is nothing to regret about the path you have chosen." You Yuji slowly blinked her left eye at Si Que, and pulled his hand, deliberately teasing him with a cheerful tone: "Besides, if I marry somewhere else, I won't meet Que Que."
Si Que pursed his lips, the scene of her winking at him just now still in front of him.
You Yuji uttered a sigh and frowned as she asked, "Queque, why are your hands so cold?"
"Are you cold? Shall we go back?" You Yuzhi held Si Que's hands in her hands, placed them in front of her lips and blew gently.
Strands of warm currents flowed slowly from her fingertips into Si Que's body, carrying with them the faint fragrance from her body, and also invading his body.
"It's not cold." Si Que smiled slowly, "Sister, do you want to hear me play the piano?"
"Okay." You Yuji said immediately. For some reason, You Yuji always felt that Si Que's words seemed to be playing the piano for her. This could not help but surprise her.
Everyone in the world knows that Princess Que's music is rare, and the princess does not play the piano for others. It is a blessing to be able to hear the princess's music.
Soon, Liu Feng brought Si Que's piano over.
You Yuji sat down next to Si Que, wondering in her mind what piece of music Si Que would play. Many pieces of music came to her mind.
Si Que placed his long fingers on the strings and paused for a moment before the first note flowed out from under his slender fingers.
When You Yuzhi heard the first sentence, she knew that this was a new piece of music improvised by Si Que.
As Si Que played the piano, she squinted her eyes, her sight passed through the red plum blossoms not far away, and then drifted to a faraway place. She seemed to see the scenery quickly passing by, passing through the cold winter, the spring flowers blooming, the gurgling stream with a warm halo, and in the distance there was endless lush grass. She seemed to hear the distant laughter again, light and shallow through the beaded curtain, but it could not hide the light joy.
A cool breeze blew, and You Yuji brushed away the hair that was brushing against her face.
In Si Que's impromptu music, You Yuzhi seemed to have returned to her hometown. The sky was blue and the grass was green. She was dancing happily between heaven and earth.
She could tell that the distant laughter behind the beaded curtain was her own.
But this is Chenjing, she can no longer dance freely like she did in the past. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but lower her eyes, with a little sadness in her eyes. When she was in her hometown before, she didn't know what it meant to miss her hometown, and now when she understands, she can't go back anymore.
Si Que glanced at her, and the tune of the strings under his fingers changed, adding two more joyful notes for her.
In the flower hall not far away, Chen Anzhi dropped the wine bottle in his hand. He stood up in a daze, walked to the window and looked in the direction of the piano sound.
Chen Lian laughed twice and said, "Fourth brother, the people have arrived at your house. Fourth brother has finally got what he wanted."
Chen Yinian also smiled and said, "Fourth brother dared to ask for Princess Que when the emperor was furious. Such deep love is really touching. I think Princess Que was also moved by fourth brother."
Chen Anzhi didn't say anything. He looked in the direction of the piano sound, his face dazed. After a moment, he suddenly laughed happily and said, "Listen, her piano sound is a happy tune!"
Chen Yinian and Chen Lian looked at each other, shook their heads and said nothing.
Several other young masters from aristocratic families echoed the sentiment.
Only Chen Qi remained silent and drank alone.
Chen Yinian smiled and teased Chen Qi: "Look at how depressed Third Brother is. He is exactly the same as Fourth Brother when he was thinking about Princess Que every day."
Chen Lian coughed lightly.
Chen Yinian was startled, realizing that he had said something wrong, and quickly poured himself a glass of wine, saying, "I drank too much and talked nonsense, so I'll drink a glass as a punishment."
Chen Anzhi frowned and looked at Chen Qi.
At first, he and several other princes teased Chen Qi, laughing at him for being bewitched by a vixen.
That vixen was none other than You Yuzhi.
As fate would have it, the vixen who had seduced the third brother's soul became his wife. Chen Anzhi felt even more disgusted, and cursed You Yuji for being unfaithful to her husband, wondering how many people she had seduced.
You Yuji and Si Que returned to Yunxiao Pavilion, and Si Que coughed intermittently. You Yuji hurriedly pulled him to sit on the couch, and placed her palm on his forehead, which actually felt a little hot.
"You actually have a fever. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you out to appreciate the plum blossoms." You Yuji frowned, feeling very guilty.
"It's okay. My health is always like this, sometimes good and sometimes bad. It has nothing to do with my sister." Si Que took out a small black porcelain bottle, poured out a white pill in his palm, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, as if he didn't feel the bitterness.
You Yuji quickly walked over, poured a glass of water and handed it to him.
"We can't always be like this. How about asking an imperial physician to give us a thorough diagnosis and treatment?" You Yuji said softly.
Si Que took the water that You Yuji handed over, but did not drink it. He put the water aside and said, "Sister, have you heard that I won't live to see Double Ten?"
You Yuji had vaguely heard of this before. But she didn't know Si Que at that time, and she didn't believe the rumor completely. But now, looking at Si Que's pale face, she felt bad.
"It will be fine." You Yuji held Si Que's hand and repeated softly, "It will be fine."
Si Que looked at the hand that was gently held by You Yuzhi and said nothing.
In the evening, after bathing with cow's milk, Si Queru would stand in front of the bronze mirror and stroke his long fingers on the front of his neck where the Adam's apple should be.
He has no Adam's apple.
Some years have passed, but Si Que still remembers the stinging pain of the silver needles piercing his body and the suffocating feeling of being pressed down by a heavy object.
"It has been wrong for so many years, and this big lie has to continue."
Before he fell into a coma, he heard his mother sobbing.
Before that day, he had always believed what people around him told him.
As a twin, he was born with a congenital weakness and a weak fate, so he had to be raised as a girl. He took medicine seriously, lived seriously, worked hard to learn everything, and tried to make himself outstanding, living like all the talents envied by God.
But it was just a joke.
Si Que looked at himself in the bronze mirror, raised the corners of his lips and smiled.
All the love, faith, and respect were destroyed in an instant.
joke
Since his existence is already a joke, he has no choice but to treat everything in this world as a joke.
Si Que turned his head and coughed lightly again, with a hint of blood.
With an expressionless face, he uncorked the small porcelain bottle and poured out a pill to eat.
You Yuji slept uneasily at night, and vaguely felt that there was some noise. When she woke up the next day, Baohe told her that there was a ghost in Cuiyu's yard last night.
"Haunted?" You Yuji, who was drawing her eyebrows in front of the mirror, raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes!" Bao He nodded heavily. "There was a big commotion last night. Aunt Cuiyu ran out of the room crying. No, no, she was literally crawling. She cried and said she saw a hanged ghost and was scared half to death."
You Yuji responded and continued drawing her eyebrows.
She doesn't really believe in ghosts and gods.
You Yuji finished drawing one side of her eyebrow and moved on to the other side. While drawing her eyebrows, she was thinking about Cui Yu. Although she did not believe in ghosts and gods, there were many people in the world who believed in ghosts and gods. Ghosts were not a big deal, and it was not known whether there would be any consequences.
Only Chun Xing came to pay her respects this morning. Lin Yingying had not returned home yet, and Cui Yu seemed to have been frightened last night. Her maid came over and said that she could not come.
After Chun Xing left, You Yuzhi asked Zhen Xu to go to Cui Yu's place to see what the situation was like there and whether there was anything she needed.
In the afternoon, another incident happened in the mansion.
When the King of Jinnan was returning home, the sedan chair passed the stone arch bridge, and suddenly the shaft of the carriage loosened, and the sedan chair almost fell into the river. Although the servants quickly prevented the sedan chair from falling under the bridge, the King of Jinnan was still frightened.
When You Yuji heard about this, she frowned, thinking that it would be best if no one would associate this with the haunted incident last night. Cuiyu was just a concubine, and a lowly concubine with a not-so-clean background. If someone said something too much, she might not be able to bear the consequences.
After two peaceful days, another incident happened in Jinnan Palace—
Chen Anzhi fell off his horse while playing polo with others and injured his leg. Although his leg was not broken, a long cut was made by a stone, and his entire calf was swollen.
"The prince's coming-of-age ceremony is coming soon, and a lot of things have happened recently." Baohe said.
Zhenxu glanced at her and lowered his voice: "Don't discuss these things."
You Yuji took a sip of the sweet wine sent by Si Que, but she knew in her heart that a lot of things had happened in the mansion recently, and people were talking about it everywhere. She was thinking about whether to go to the princess to ask for her opinion, when the Taoist priest who was exorcising ghosts came to the mansion early the next morning.
The people in the mansion were told in advance to stay in their own rooms and not go out.
The Taoist priest worked hard for most of the day, and the entire Jinnan Palace was filled with a strange smell of burning paper.
You Yuji held a bottle of red plum blossoms and placed it on the window to drive away the smell of burning paper that drifted in from outside. She was just about to ask Baohe to send another bottle of red plum blossoms that she had personally placed to Yunxiao Pavilion.
Nanny Gu, who was beside the princess, came over to invite her.
You Yuzhi brought the pillow to see the princess and learned the Taoist's conclusion after spending most of the day there.
Chen Anzhi has been haunted by a little ghost recently, and as his birthday is approaching, the little ghost has become more and more evil, disturbing the entire Jinnan Palace. The solution is to require all of Chen Anzhi's wives and concubines to hand-copy a Buddhist scripture and then personally go to the Buddhist temple to burn it.
You Yuji didn't believe in ghosts and Buddhas. But the princess said, "It's better to believe in them than not to believe in them."
Two days later, all of Chen Anzhi's wives and concubines boarded the carriage with the Buddhist scriptures they had copied by hand. Even Lin Yingying, who had previously returned to her parents' home, was called back.