Xiao Jingyan’s eyes had become frighteningly sharp over the years.
There was no mistaking it: what he had seen was a sealed wax pellet wrapped in layer upon layer of black wax.
It was the sort of thing commonly used for urgent military dispatches from the frontier, meant to carry the most sensitive intelligence. The method was designed to prevent anyone from soaking, burning, or otherwise tampering with it halfway along the route.
Xu Qinghuan calmly extended her hand and accepted the black wax pellet, which had been chilled until it was slightly stiff.
Seated in the armchair, Xiao Jingyan unconsciously leaned forward a little.
He had only just learned of the earth-shaking land-grabbing scheme unfolding in Jiangnan, and now an urgent military dispatch of the highest order had arrived from the north!?
Just how deep were the undercurrents beneath the Chengyi Earl’s residence?
He wanted to get to the bottom of it, but he held himself still.
“Your Highness, please wait a moment.” Xu Qinghuan’s eyes swept over Xiao Jingyan before she gave him a slight nod.
As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Qinghuan turned around.
Dragging her skirt, she walked to the carved wooden window that had been propped open in the heated chamber, presenting her entire back to Xiao Jingyan.
A flicker of doubt passed through Xiao Jingyan’s heart.
She was not asking him to leave, yet she had turned her back on him.
Clearly, whatever was in her hands could not be exposed to the light.
And yet Xu Qinghuan had deliberately chosen to display this air of controlling a secret in front of an imperial prince.
Interesting. Very interesting!
Xu Qinghuan fiddled with the pellet for a while before pinching a corner of paper out from the base of the wax shell.
She tore open the parchment.
Oh? A blood-written letter.
Xu Qinghuan scanned it line by line.
“The Right Wing Royal Court has fallen.”
“Left Guli King Ashina Dubi has been executed.”
“Baiyin Pasture has been razed to the ground.”
“The seven Helian tribes have turned on one another. The grasslands are in chaos.”
Only a few words, yet each one struck like thunder.
They had won.
The plan she had spent so long devising—to eradicate the enemy’s roots and wipe out the entire clan—had truly been carried out by that young wolf, Amur.
And he had carried it out even more thoroughly than she had imagined.
Wonderful! Simply wonderful!
Xu Qinghuan drew in a deep breath of cold air, suppressing the wild delight that nearly burst through the crown of her head.
The corners of her lips rose discreetly by half an inch.
The smile was faint and vanished in an instant, but a ruthless pleasure—the satisfaction of holding life and death in her hands—overflowed from her eyes.
The heated chamber was frighteningly quiet.
Xiao Jingyan sat only three paces away.
He could not see the words on the parchment.
But he could guess who had written it.
The outcome was decided!
Xiao Jingyan reached a conclusion in his heart.
This was unquestionably good news—and news good enough to affect the entire court!
“Commandery Princess Xu.”
Xiao Jingyan could no longer sit still. He spoke directly. “Does this letter concern the war on the northern frontier?”
He rose and strode forward two steps, broad-shouldered and imposing.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, Xu Qinghuan folded the blood-written letter and slipped it into a hidden pocket close to her body.
She casually brushed the flecks of wax from her sleeve.
Only then did she turn around.
All traces of delight and ruthlessness had been washed clean from Xu Qinghuan’s face, replaced by her usual utterly shamelessly goofy expression.
“Oh! Your Highness is overthinking it.”
She walked slowly back to the square table, picked up the cup of tea she had set down earlier, and took a small sip.
“It’s merely a family letter from one of the younger members of my household. He said the snow has fallen in the north and the weather is bitterly cold, so he was writing to report that he was safe. He also mentioned a few trivial odds and ends. Nothing of importance.”
She looked up at Xiao Jingyan, her tone light and unconcerned.
Xiao Jingyan was stunned at first. Then he was rendered speechless before breaking into an amused laugh.
Did Xu Qinghuan really think an excuse like that would work? It might fool some rough fellow below her station, but she expected to deceive him?
A family letter reporting someone’s safety?
What family member wrote a letter home only to hide by the window with his back turned while it was being read? And who, after reading such a letter, would relax so completely that even their tense spine went slack?
Xiao Jingyan was not offended in the slightest at being brushed off. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest and studied Xu Qinghuan with great interest.
The more the Commandery Princess tried to minimize the matter, the more she concealed it, the more it proved that whatever was inside could be important enough to crush someone to death.
“A family letter?” Xiao Jingyan raised one eyebrow.
He extended his foot and nudged the scattered black fragments on the floor before him.
“Sealed with the dead wax reserved for eight-hundred-li urgent dispatches from the Ministry of War.” He pointed at Xu Qinghuan’s sleeve. “And a family letter from the north, with desert sand stuck to the outside?”
Xiao Jingyan smiled with amusement. “The younger member of your household certainly went to greater lengths to report his safety to an elder than the Grand Secretariat does when sending an official dispatch to the frontier. By at least three parts.”
At these words, Xu Fu was startled.
The Third Prince was being rather blunt.
If this had been an ordinary female relative of a court official, confronted with such pointed remarks from a member of the imperial family, she would probably have panicked by now, dropped to her knees, and hurriedly apologized.
But Xu Qinghuan did not.
Looking at Xiao Jingyan’s confident expression, Xu Qinghuan simply let out a soft laugh.
“Your Highness truly has a keen pair of eyes. Since you saw through everything, why insist on standing here and pretending not to know, just to expose me?”
She did not even bother with a pointless attempt to cover her tracks. She admitted it openly.
Then Xu Qinghuan sobered, the smile fading from her face.
“However, I truly cannot tell Your Highness the contents of this letter at present.”
Xu Fu nearly dropped to his knees beside her.
The young lady was far too brazen! She might as well have pointed at His Highness’s nose and said, I’m not telling you.
Xu Qinghuan ignored Xu Fu’s expression. Her tone shifted, taking on a teasing, mischievous edge.
“It isn’t that I don’t trust Your Highness. We’re all on the same boat; there’s no reason for us to guard against each other as though we were thieves. It’s just…”
She deliberately drew out the last word, dangling it to whet his appetite.
“Some grand designs are best revealed one step at a time. Don’t you think this great game of the realm becomes more interesting when we add a few mysteries whose answers have yet to be revealed?”
Xiao Jingyan froze for a moment, then lowered his head.
“Heh…”
A short laugh slipped from his lips. Then he threw back his head and burst into loud laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
What satisfaction!
He had heard more than enough of the hypocritical wrangling of civil officials on ordinary days. Today, he had finally met someone who acted boldly and went straight to the heart of the matter. Rather than feeling the slightest anger at being kept in the dark, he felt an exhilarating rush.
The more openly Xu Qinghuan dared to toy with him, the more it proved that this matter was, for their alliance against the First Prince, an ace powerful enough to determine the outcome of everything.
She was keeping silent for the sake of ensuring that the greater plan remained flawless.
“Good! Very good! What a wonderful ‘more interesting’!”
Xiao Jingyan finally stopped laughing, his brows and eyes relaxing as he looked at Xu Qinghuan.
“Since the Commandery Princess insists on keeping me in suspense, I shall ask no further questions!”
A vicious edge surfaced in Xiao Jingyan’s expression.
“But I feel reassured now. I imagine that when the answer is finally revealed, it will strike like a bolt from a clear sky and leave the entire court speechless.”
“When that day comes, my Eldest Imperial Brother, who thinks victory is already within his grasp, may not even be able to find a grave in which to cry!”
He took a large step backward and clasped his hands solemnly before him.
“Jingyan will remain here at the residence and await the Commandery Princess’s thunderbolt.”
With that, Xiao Jingyan left without the slightest hesitation or lingering.
Xu Qinghuan stood where she was, listening until all sounds from outside had completely faded away. Only then did she reach into her hidden pocket again and pull out the folded blood-written parchment.
She walked slowly to the large bronze brazier in the middle of the room.
The silverbone charcoal inside was burning fiercely, its sparks crackling and popping, its heat warming her cheeks.
Xu Qinghuan lowered her head, her eyes falling on those words one last time.
“The plan is in place. We await the command of the Commandery Princess.”
Without the slightest hesitation, she tossed the blood letter into the fire.
Xu Qinghuan dusted off her hands and turned toward the snowflakes dancing across the sky outside the window.
For some reason, the sharp calculating gleam in her eyes—the one that seemed capable of plotting against the whole world—slowly faded, leaving behind nothing but tranquility.
Leaning against the window, Xu Qinghuan murmured under her breath,
“Amur…”
Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.
“You lone wolf of the grasslands—you really haven’t disappointed me.”
Then Xu Qinghuan froze for a moment before breaking into delighted laughter.
“Hahahaha! At least you’re not some blasted Grey Wolf~”
