Gu Zhizhuo laughed softly.
“Eldest Young Miss…”
Qiongfang was both anxious and angry. She clearly remembered that during the game of pitch-pot, the arrow thrown off-course by Second Miss Qiu had been heading toward Cousin Miss Ji. If the Third Prince hadn’t deflected the arrow, how could Eldest Young Miss have ended up suffering such a calamity! And now…
Qiongfang’s eyes widened as she realized something: “Eldest Young Miss, could it be that the one the Third Prince loves… is Cousin Miss Ji?”
“Yes.”
Gu Zhizhuo sneered inwardly.
Her birth mother came from the prestigious Wang clan of Langya and passed away before she was even six years old.
Her father, by imperial decree, remarried Lady Ji as her stepmother. Ji Nanke was Lady Ji’s biological niece. She had lost both her parents, and with no one to care for her, she entered the Duke Zhenguo’s manor along with Lady Ji and was raised there from a young age. Gu Zhizhuo would often address her as “Cousin[mfn]“表姐” (biǎojiě) means older female cousin on the mother’s side (or father’s sister’s daughter). But here, Gu Zhizhuo was not her aunt’s daughter and not related at all to Ji Nanke.[/mfn].”
After her father died in battle, she and her brother had to observe a mourning period of twenty-seven months, which had just ended at the start of this month.
Having stayed within the manor for so long, at this point, she didn’t know that Xie Jing had already fallen deeply for Ji Nanke and was desperately pursuing her.
Gu Zhizhuo glanced at the water clock and suddenly said, “It’s about time.” With that, she got up, walked straight to the door, and personally opened it.
The moment the side hall doors opened, a dazzling sunlight poured over her, bringing with it the warmth of a new beginning.
Gu Zhizhuo’s eyes met a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes, as expected.
The young girl standing at the doorway had snow-white skin, jet-black hair, bright eyes, and pearly teeth. She froze for a moment and then pouted and deliberately huffed, “I’m not here to see you!”
Gu Zhizhuo’s gaze shifted slightly upward and fell on the girl’s left hand that was just about to knock on the door, and her eyebrows arched slightly.
The young girl nonchalantly withdrew her hand and adjusted the pearl flower hairpin at her temple, her eyes darting evasively.
She stubbornly insisted, “I was just passing by!”
With a flick of her sleeve, she pretended to leave.
But Gu Zhizhuo quickly grabbed her sleeve, gave it a gentle tug, and softly called out, “Cousin Danling~”
Her tone was sweet as honey, with a playful lilt at the end. Xie Danling was clearly won over by it, and the corner of her lips curled up immediately.
The Consort Shu in the palace, surnamed Wang, was the full-blooded sister of Gu Zhizhuo’s birth mother.
Xie Danling was Consort Shu’s only daughter, the Emperor’s Fifth Princess, and was only three days older than Gu Zhizhuo.
In her memory, Consort Shu had recently told her privately that Xie Jing was not a good match. If she wished, Imperial Concubine Shu would find a way to ruin the engagement.
But she had been naïve, easily swayed by her stepmother’s subtle manipulations, so she began to suspect Consort Shu of having ulterior motives, which had deeply angered Consort Shu and caused Xie Danling to become upset with her as well.
In her previous life, Xie Danling had also come, trying to drag her out.
Her face had been in pain at that time, and she didn’t want to go out. As they talked, they quarreled a few more times, and Xie Danling stormed off in a huff.
And it was on that very day, after the palace banquet ended, that the palace servants found Xie Danling on the verge of death.
“It’s fine,” Gu Zhizhuo quickly said. “The swelling will go down soon.”
Xie Danling snorted softly: “I’m not worried about you.” But even as she said that, she pulled out a veil.
“Here.” She stuffed the veil into Gu Zhizhuo’s hand and said stiffly, “Let’s be clear—I didn’t come here to make up!” But her expression clearly said, if you don’t coax me, I won’t be friends with you anymore.
Gu Zhizhuo suppressed a chuckle and obediently unfolded the veil to put it on. Then she looked a bit troubled and said, “Cousin Danling, can you help me tie it?”
Xie Danling said with a straight face, “You’re such a hassle.”
Qiongfang opened her mouth, wanting to say that she could do it instead, but when she saw the Fifth Princess looking so eager, she wisely swallowed her words.
Xie Danling tied the veil for her and listened to her saying constantly, “Cousin Danling, you’re the best,” which put her in an excellent mood.
As she was just about to graciously declare that she forgave her, a young palace maid hurried in from outside and whispered a few words into Xie Danling’s ear.
Xie Danling’s smile disappeared. She waved the young palace maid away and grabbed her hand, saying with no room for refusal, “You—come with me.”
“You’re not allowed to say no! You hear me?!”
Gu Zhizhuo let herself be pulled along and obediently said, “Wherever you’re going today, I’ll go too.”
Xie Danling was satisfied, and she strode out, dragging her along.
It was April, the season of blooming flowers. A few paper kites floated between the blue sky and white clouds. Around the waterside pavilion, roses were in full bloom. Many noble young ladies were chasing butterflies and playing, their laughter ringing out joyfully.
Xie Danling didn’t return to the waterside pavilion but continued to move forward along the bluestone path.
She walked faster and faster, and Gu Zhizhuo followed silently without a word.
In the distance, the melodious sound of a flute drifted through the air.
Xie Danling suddenly came to a stop, and Gu Zhizhuo, caught off guard, bumped right into her.
Xie Danling quickly steadied her, patting her chest to calm her down while muttering, “Look at you—so clumsy and reckless.”
Gu Zhizhuo: “…”
The next moment, Xie Danling’s pretty face turned stern. She stared at her veil, finding it more and more of an eyesore, and said angrily, “My mother had said that the Third Prince Brother is not a good match.”
“Now, he can hurt your face for the sake of that Ji.”
“Then one day, he could take your life for the sake of that Ji too.”
Gu Zhizhuo nodded silently. Those words couldn’t have been more true.
Xie Danling placed her hands on her hips: “What, you still not convinced?”
“Let me tell you, Ji Nanke is just playing hard to get! Go out and ask—who in the capital doesn’t know that Third Prince Bother is hopelessly in love with her but can’t win her over? The whole city can see it—can she be the only one who’s blind!”
Xie Danling sneered, “But what did she say outside? Said something like, the Gu family had raised her, and she’d never crossed the line.”
“Hmph, I have seen plenty of people with narrow minds like hers in the palace.”
“You’re just foolishly naïve. You’d get sold and still help them count the money.”
Xie Danling poked her forehead with her finger and snorted, “From now on, you’re not allowed to be friends with her. Got it?”
Gu Zhizhuo lifted her head slightly, her black-and-white eyes glistening with a thin layer of moisture as she declared, “From now on, I’ll only be close with Cousin Danling!”
That’s more like it! Xie Danling’s phoenix eyes curved with delight, and her tone softened: “It’s not really your fault. You’ve been in mourning and rarely go out, plus with that stepmother of yours managing the household and controlling what you hear and see, how could you know about how sticky and clingy the two of them are?”
Now that she felt they’d made up, she affectionately called Gu Zhizhuo by her childhood nickname: “Yaoyao, just now Father Emperor rewarded Third Prince Brother with a pair of three-foot swords inlaid with gold and gems. Sixth Young Master Zhou started egging him on to try them out, and Third Prince Brother agreed but said it would be dull to try such fine swords alone, so he invited Ji Nanke to perform a sword dance with him.”
Speaking of this, Xie Danling snorted softly.
When the young palace maid came to report the news, Xie Danling was absolutely furious.
Xie Jing was still so ostentatious on the Qianqiu Festival, afraid that others didn’t know he had someone he loved. He was practically stomping all over her little cousin’s dignity.
How could Xie Danling possibly tolerate that!
“It’s just up ahead. I’ll take you there!”
Xie Danling grabbed her hand and continued walking forward.
Soon, they saw an octagonal pavilion, its flying eaves inlaid with countless gemstones.
Each gemstone was polished to the size of a soybean, densely embedded across the structure, shining with colorful light under the sun that reflected onto Ji Nanke as she danced with a sword inside the pavilion.
Her figure was graceful, her movements light and elegant.
The tip of her sword quivered gently, and the gems embedded in the hilt sparkled with radiant light, making her look stunningly beautiful—charming and alluring. That kind of allure, which seemed to emanate from her very bones, gave her usually cold facial features a dazzling, vivid glow.
As their swords clashed, a crisp clinking sound rang out. Ji Nanke’s and Xie Jing’s figures brushed past one another, their gazes entwined, as if brimming with tender affection.
Xie Jing’s eyes and heart were so completely focused on Ji Nanke that he didn’t even notice Gu Zhizhuo and the others entering.
“Heh,” Xie Danling folded her arms across her chest and whispered to her little cousin, “So this is what she meant by ‘not crossing the line’?”
Her voice was neither loud nor soft. The flute music faltered, and Sixth Young Master Zhou hesitated before lowering his flute, standing up with others to pay their respects.
“Greetings to the Fifth Princess.”
Sixth Young Master Zhou was only about sixteen or seventeen, and his paternal aunt was Concubine Zhen in the palace.
Not just him, most of the people present were sons and nephews of the palace concubines, all aligned with the Empress.
In her previous life, after Xie Danling’s accident, she barely clung to life but never regained consciousness again.
Afterward, because the pavilion hadn’t been repaired in time, which led to the princess’s fall and injury, the Emperor flew into a rage. Several people in the Directorate of Palace Attendants were beaten to death, from top to bottom.
The matter was settled just like that.
Gu Zhizhuo didn’t believe it. Even if Xie Danling had really fallen on her own—why hadn’t any palace attendants discovered her? It wasn’t until evening that they found her.
Even if it was the Qianqiu Festival and the palace was busy, the palace attendants had their duties. Let alone in the palace—even in an ordinary noble household, a birthday banquet wouldn’t be so chaotic that someone could fall and get hurt without being discovered for so long.
At that time, she could barely protect herself, let alone investigate.
Many years later, Gu Zhizhuo found Sixth Young Master Zhou and forced the truth out of him about what happened at that time…
Her little cousin had stood up for her and provoked Ji Nanke—only to be pushed off the pavilion by Xie Jing.
Sixth Young Master Zhou told her that when Xie Danling first fell, she was still crying out in pain. But Xie Jing coldly claimed she was faking it and needed to be taught a lesson. He forbade anyone from calling an imperial physician and dismissed all the palace attendants nearby, ordering them not to go near her.
Gu Zhizhuo’s fingertips turned icy cold.
Even now, she could still clearly remember what Sixth Young Master Zhou had said back then: “…The next day, we heard that the Fifth Princess was seriously injured and hadn’t regained consciousness. His Highness the Third Prince sent someone to warn us that no one was to speak a word about what happened at the Qianqiu Festival. The Third Prince said that the Fifth Princess had simply fallen by accident, that she was just unlucky and brought it upon herself.”
