“How dare you! What are you doing?!”
Lin Wan'er shrieked, the flawless mask she had maintained finally cracking.
Right before her eyes, the wish-granting music box worth a hundred thousand taels of silver was snatched away by Su Yaoyao.
She moved so swiftly, with such force, that even the maid at Lin Wan'er's side failed to react in time.
Ignoring them, Su Yaoyao’s slender, fair hands blurred into afterimages.
“Crack! Crack-crack! Snap!”
The crisp sounds of metal and wood being torn apart erupted through the pavilion in rapid succession.
No one could see how she had done it.
The priceless treasure Lin Wan'er had praised to the heavens—the masterpiece said to have cost a master craftsman ten years of painstaking labor—
was dismantled in Su Yaoyao’s hands.
The agarwood-and-purple-sandalwood casing was pried apart and casually tossed onto the stone table.
Then came the crooked brass gears and crude mainspring clips.
Su Yaoyao plucked them out one by one, as easily as pulling radishes from the ground.
With a sharp clatter—
the exquisite, square music box was reduced to a heap of scrap metal, scattered with wood shavings and copper rust.
The pavilion fell silent.
Every woman present sucked in a breath, their eyes widening so much they nearly popped out of their sockets.
Lin Wan'er stood frozen.
Then a surge of wild delight shot up from the depths of her heart.
Ruined!
This idiot had publicly destroyed a priceless treasure!
Even if she was the Crown Princess, she would not be able to silence public outrage this time!
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Wan'er's eyes reddened, and two streams of tears rolled down her cheeks like pearls.
“Your Highness! Wh-what are you doing?!”
She rushed to the stone table. Gazing at the pile of scrap, she wept as though her heart had been shattered.
“I know Your Highness looks down on me, but this was a treasure crafted by a master from a neighboring kingdom! It was meant to raise funds for winter clothing for the soldiers at the border!”
“No matter how willful you may be, how could you destroy it before everyone’s eyes?”
“Wan'er... Wan'er will report this to His Majesty at once and ask him to seek justice for the border soldiers!”
Her tearful accusation immediately ignited the anger of the women around them.
“This is outrageous! What a waste of a priceless treasure!”
“Even the Crown Princess cannot treat a treasure so carelessly!”
Faced with the swelling outrage, Su Yaoyao brushed the wood shavings from her hands in disgust and looked at Lin Wan'er as though she were an idiot.
“What are you crying for? Holding a funeral?”
Su Yaoyao gave a cold laugh.
Her hands reached once more for the parts on the stone table.
“This heap of junk dares call itself a master’s life work? Today, I’ll show you what real mechanical craftsmanship looks like!”
Before her words had even faded, Su Yaoyao’s hands moved again.
This time, she was more than ten times faster than before.
“Click! Clack! Twang!”
The crisp sounds of metal locking into place rang out like a sudden downpour.
With a few deft movements, Su Yaoyao straightened the misaligned spring clips and removed several unnecessary friction pieces.
Her technique was so dazzling that it left everyone breathless.
She fitted the brass components back into the wooden casing.
With a soft click, the purple-sandalwood lid closed perfectly.
The entire process was smooth and effortless, completed in one fluid motion.
The accusations in the pavilion came to an abrupt halt.
The women stood there like ducks with their throats pinched shut.
Their mouths hung open, but not a sound came out.
Lin Wan'er's tears still trembled in her eyes.
She was so embarrassed she did not know whether to stay or leave.
She stared at the completely intact music box in disbelief, as though she had seen a ghost.
"Th-this... How is that even possible...?"
Su Yaoyao could not be bothered with further explanations. She gripped the brass winding handle.
With a gentle turn—
Ding-dong, ting-a-ling.
A crisp, melodious tune, as pure as mountain streams and orchids blooming in a secluded valley, poured from the wooden box.
The harsh metallic scraping and stiffness from before were gone.
The reassembled music box now produced a limpid, flawless melody, its rhythm perfect, as though heavenly music had descended upon the mortal world.
The beautiful tune echoed through the imperial garden, leaving everyone entranced.
The noblewomen's looks toward Su Yaoyao shifted from contempt to stunned awe.
A young girl who had supposedly never lifted a finger to do any real work had actually dismantled and reassembled a marvel of intricate mechanisms that even the Imperial Workshop had been helpless to repair—and made it even better?!
Was she even human?!
Lin Wan'er bit her lip. Her sweet, elegant face flushed an ugly liver-red.
The source of her greatest pride, the peerless treasure she had intended to use to crush Su Yaoyao—
In Su Yaoyao's hands, it was nothing more than a piece of junk, a toy she could knead and reshape at will!
That hurt ten thousand times more than being slapped twice across the face.
"Well? Doesn't it sound much nicer now?"
Su Yaoyao casually tossed the music box to a maid beside her. Looking at Lin Wan'er's iron-gray face, she sighed.
"Ah, I really didn't want to discourage you."
"But since Cousin is so enthusiastic about supporting the soldiers at the border that she is willing to donate even this kind of scrap metal..."
"If Dayuan's Crown Princess were to show up empty-handed, wouldn't that make me look terribly stingy?"
At those words, the women around them pricked up their ears and held their breath.
The Crown Princess was about to make her move?
She did not even think much of a mechanical marvel worth one hundred thousand taels of silver. What kind of treasure could she possibly bring out?!
Lin Wan'er felt her heart tighten as well, her gaze fixed on Su Yaoyao's sleeve.
A sly smile curled across Su Yaoyao's lips. She rummaged around inside her wide sleeve with one small hand.
[Hehe. Before I left today, I happened to scrape some powder off my useless brother.]
[I mixed Barbie-pink fluorescent powder with a few bits of crushed glass and rolled it into a ball. I was originally planning to keep it as a night-light.]
[Now it's perfect for fooling this bunch of country bumpkins!]
With a flick of her wrist, Su Yaoyao pulled out a fist-sized object from her sleeve.
"Your Highnesses, watch closely!"
As soon as the words left her lips, Su Yaoyao opened her palm.
In an instant, an eerie, dreamy pink glow blossomed from her hand.
Even beneath the sunlight, the radiance was not dimmed in the slightest.
Refracted through the shards of glass, it cast a dazzling, mesmerizing halo, bathing the entire pavilion in an ethereal wash of pink.
Everyone held their breath without realizing it.
Resting quietly in Su Yaoyao's palm was a perfectly round, crystal-clear transparent orb.
Within it, a cloud of pink stardust seemed to be sealed away, slowly swirling and giving off a bewitching glow.
No one had ever seen such light before.
No one had ever heard of such a color.
"Good heavens! What kind of treasure is this? It can actually glow on its own!"
"It's even more captivating than the sunset clouds in the sky. It's so beautiful!"
The consorts had gone wild. Their eyes burned as they stared at the glass orb, each wishing she could claim it for herself that very instant.
Su Yaoyao was pleased with their reaction. She cleared her throat and launched into a masterclass in persuasion.
“This is the Pink Radiance Night Pearl, a precious treasure of the immortals that I chanced upon while traveling among the people.”
Su Yaoyao delivered her outrageous tale with such solemnity that she might have been preaching the divine truth.
“This pearl has absorbed the celestial energy of the heavens and spent a thousand years maturing in the depths of the sea.”
“Not only does it shine brilliantly in the dark and ward off evil and disaster…”
Su Yaoyao paused deliberately, lowered her voice, and dangled the bait.
“Most importantly, place it by your bedside and let its immortal light nourish you day and night…”
“It will give you jade-smooth skin, erase your wrinkles, and even… keep you forever young!”
Forever young!!!
Those four words struck this crowd harder than the deadliest poison.
Breaths grew heavy in the pavilion.
Every eye turned red with desire.
Some of the older consorts trembled with excitement as they touched their cheeks.
If they could obtain such a treasure of the immortals and win the Emperor’s favor, wouldn’t it only be a matter of time?
Lin Wan’er was struck as if by lightning.
Her eyes, usually so innocent and pure, now blazed with fervor.
She was known as the capital’s foremost talented lady, the dream woman of countless noble young men.
If she could get her hands on this treasure, which promised to preserve her youth forever, her beauty would remain unchanged for all time.
Then what man under heaven could possibly escape her clutches?!
She would not only secure her place as the foremost talented lady, but also outshine every rival and claim the Emperor’s favor for herself!
She could never let such a treasure fall into someone else’s hands!
Watching the gullible marks lose all reason, Su Yaoyao’s mind raced with schemes.
She raised the pink-glowing glass orb high and announced loudly:
“Since we’re raising funds for winter clothes for the troops on the frontier, I’ll make this sacrifice and part with it today.”
“This treasure of the immortals, the Pink Radiance Night Pearl, will be auctioned right here!”
“Starting bid: ten thousand taels!”
Everyone’s attention was fixed on the pearl.
Desperate to preserve her reputation as the foremost talented lady and her place above all the other beauties, Lin Wan’er stared at it with burning determination. She would have it at any cost.
