What exactly did she seduce him with? She hadn’t done anything at all. Her hands had stayed perfectly proper—she couldn’t have been any more honest and well-behaved. Wasn’t she even allowed to look at him a couple of times?
After changing into the dry, light clothing Zheng Yuande had sent someone to bring, Cui Yu finally let out a comfortable sigh of relief.
When he turned his gaze, he caught sight of the little cloth tiger, no bigger than his palm. Looking around, he noticed that a remarkably lifelike portrait of Celestial Master Zhang was hanging on the wall of the main hall, directly opposite the entrance.
The palace placed great importance on the Dragon Boat Festival, so naturally there would be decorations. However, the arrangements in the Eastern Palace were all overseen by the Crown Princess. Every year, the main focus was on decorating the Crown Prince’s usual living quarters—the front hall and the Xifang Hall. As for the rear quarters, he had no real impression of them.
Following his gaze, Shen Yanshui smiled. “I heard that portraits of Celestial Master Zhang can guard a home against evil spirits and bless its residents with peace and good health, so I painted one myself.”
Cui Yu looked at her in surprise. “You painted this yourself?”
Shen Yanshui nodded, watching him with a rather pleased expression. “What do you think, Your Highness? Isn’t it pretty decent?” In her previous life, she had majored in fine arts. Although she hadn’t specialized in traditional Chinese painting, she had spent so many years living in Great Yong that her time hadn’t been wasted. She was perfectly capable of using ink wash to paint a realistic figure.
Looking at her lively, spirited little expression of pride, Cui Yu said coolly, “It is lifelike, but overly craftsmanlike. It lacks the character’s spiritual essence.”
Shen Yanshui: “…”
Her painting was indeed not particularly good, but she still thought it was all right. How could he call it overly craftsmanlike?
Not entirely convinced, she muttered under her breath, “Even Little Jade’s mouth is sweeter than yours, Your Highness.”
Seeing the coquettish anger in her shifting eyes, Cui Yu did not take offense at her audacity or her disrespectful comparison of him to a parrot. Instead, he suddenly raised a hand and pinched her moist, rosy lips.
Shen Yanshui: “...?”
Cui Yu lowered his eyes and stared at her soft, pink lips for a long moment. A faint, sweet fragrance of rouge seemed to drift into his breath...
“Your Highness?” Shen Yanshui asked, her eyes full of confusion as she spoke indistinctly.
Cui Yu finally released her and said in an even tone, “Prepare the ink and brush.”
Shen Yanshui’s eyes immediately lit up. She led him to the desk in the small study, eagerly preparing the ink and brush for him. Then she took out a blank scroll, unrolled it, and spread it across the table.
“Your Highness, are you going to paint Celestial Master Zhang too?” she asked curiously. She had never seen him paint before.
Cui Yu gave a soft acknowledgment and dipped his brush in ink.
His brush moved as smoothly as flowing clouds and running water. Though he used only a few strokes, skillfully combining varying shades, dryness, and moisture, he captured the figure’s movement and spirit with extraordinary vividness. The painting seemed to take shape the instant the ink touched the paper.
Before long, Cui Yu set down his brush.
Although Shen Yanshui’s own skill in traditional Chinese painting was only average, she still possessed a basic eye for appreciation.
Her eyes sparkled with adoration. “I never knew Your Highness was so good at painting too! Could you bestow this masterpiece upon me? With Your Highness’s painting of Celestial Master Zhang, it will surely protect our home and keep us all safe, healthy, and sound.”
Cui Yu glanced at her. He was quite pleased inwardly, but his expression remained calm and unruffled. In a detached tone, he said, “It is merely an ordinary work.”
Shen Yanshui smiled brightly. “Then I’ll take that as Your Highness’s agreement?”
When she saw him give a composed nod, she immediately said happily, “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Before long, once the ink on the front had nearly dried, Shen Yanshui had Quanfu and Quanshou carefully hang it up, replacing the one she had painted.
Earlier, she hadn’t thought much of her own work and had even felt that it was fairly decent. But without comparison, one could never see the difference. Beside the Crown Prince’s painting, hers suddenly seemed rather unimpressive. As he had said, it was lifelike, but the figure lacked spiritual vitality and expressiveness.
She was just about to have someone throw it away when she saw the Crown Prince take it over for a closer look.
Cui Yu lowered his eyes and examined it carefully. After a moment, he said, “It does have its merits.”
Shen Yanshui immediately perked up. She leaned closer, her beautiful, peach-blossom eyes fixed on him in eager anticipation. “See? See?”
Praise me a little more. I love hearing it!
Looking at her beautiful, eager little face, like a cat waiting expectantly for him to praise her, Cui Yu could not help reaching out to stroke her smooth black hair. But all he said was a flat, “Not bad.”
Shen Yanshui: “...”
Would praising her a couple more times make him lose his voice? Sure enough, he was still as miserly with words as ever.
Still, she had been praised, after all, and her mood was quite good.
Cui Yu did not remain in Lianxin Court for long. Seeing that the marks on her neck had faded considerably after the medicine was applied, he finally put his mind at ease. Since it was nearly time for the evening meal, he rose to leave.
“We respectfully see Your Highness off,” Shen Yanshui said.
She didn’t care where he went. If he came to her, she would properly attend to this provider of her food and clothing. If he didn’t, she would simply live her own life.
Before leaving, Cui Yu looked her up and down, his gaze lingering for a moment longer on the hibiscus-pink crystal ornaments in her coiffure. Once he had left Lianxin Court, he instructed, “Open my private treasury. Select some fine, lightweight fabrics suitable for summer, along with various pieces of jewelry, stationery, brushes, ink, and paper, and send them to Lady Shen.”
Zheng Yuande hurriedly acknowledged the order.
Cui Yu frowned. “Forget it. Have Qu Wen bring me the inventory catalogue. I’ll choose them myself.”
She usually wore very little jewelry. Most of what she possessed had been gifts bestowed upon her after entering the Eastern Palace. Since she was only a common-born daughter of the Shen family, her relatives likely had not prepared many such things for her.
As far as he knew, Lady Shen in the palace had presented Consort Shu with a white jade statue of Guanyin worth a fortune just a few days earlier, on the occasion of Consort Shu’s birthday. She was also extremely generous when rewarding servants and the like, to say nothing of her own usual food, clothing, and other expenses.
Zheng Yuande lowered his head to conceal his shock. He did not dare delay and immediately sent someone to deliver the message.
Not long afterward, while Shen Yanshui was having dinner, she received the gifts from the Crown Prince.
Only after seeing off the smiling, courteous Eunuch Zheng did Shen Yanshui gaze brightly at the roomful of silks, satins, gold, silver, and jeweled ornaments. For a moment, she was so delighted that the corners of her mouth were harder to suppress than an AK!
Hmm? There were even two sets of excellent brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, as well as two painting manuals?
The attendants standing nearby were almost dazzled by the glittering treasure before them. More than that, however, they were delighted! All of this had come from their mistress being favored by the Crown Prince!
Shen Yanshui said with a beaming smile, “Chunping, Quanfu, first record everything Your Highness bestowed and place it in the storeroom.”
She had originally assumed that when the Crown Prince said he would send her a little more fabric, he meant no more than the amount he had sent last time. She had never expected him to send several times as much. If she had all of it made into clothes, she could wear a different outfit every day throughout the summer.
She was not actually so extravagant, though. These fabrics were all excellent; whether kept in storage or used as gifts in the future, they would be useful. She simply could not understand why there were so many pieces of jewelry as well.
A pink tourmaline squirrel-and-grape pendant, with clusters of grapes carved from pink crystal and a lively little squirrel.
A “Begonia in Spring Slumber” hairpin, featuring a slightly drooping begonia carved from pink tourmaline, with pearl tassels swaying gently.
There was a bracelet of eighteen pink tourmaline beads, embellished with pearls and jade. Shen Yanshui counted them: all eighteen pink tourmaline beads were strung together, interspersed with jade knot beads and finished with a guru bead.
A rose-quartz lidded censer with coiling chi-dragon handles was carved entirely from rose quartz, its translucent surface so crystalline it looked like jelly. Under the sunlight, it was simply breathtaking.
A tall-footed porcelain cup with shadow-blue glaze and underglaze red was finished in a blue-white glaze, with splashes of underglaze red scattered across it like pink cherry blossoms drifting through snow.
There was a pink lotus suction cup, a lantern-shaped vase with peach-blossom-cave glaze… and a pastel cup decorated with a three-dimensional lotus relief, its petals fading in soft shades of pink. Every piece was so beautiful that it was impossible to look away.
Shen Yanshui examined them one by one. Each piece made her eyes light up, and she could hardly bear to put any of them down. It was just that… why were they all in shades of pink?
