Chapter Fourteen: More Precious Than the Fragrant Orchid

Qiu Ming was startled, but she immediately regained her composure and hurried to say, "No, Your Highness, I swear, I am not one of Mr. Zhang's people."

The young girl held up her fingers to swear, shaking her head like a rattle, looking entirely innocent.

"You are a clever girl, so I will not hide it from you. I sent you on that errand tonight not only to see who is behind Xia Lan, but also to test you." Yin Jiaojiao pressed down the hand she was using to swear. "Having been by my side for this past year, with your intelligence, you must have had some inkling of Xia Lan's intentions. But since she was my person and you were of low standing, you couldn't speak up and could only offer subtle hints. Am I right?"

Qiu Ming nodded vigorously.

"Yes, everyone knew she was my person, yet she still betrayed me. After so many years as mistress and servant, you have seen how I treated her. To say I am not hurt would be a lie; I am very hurt." Yin Jiaojiao sighed. "So, even though you seem trustworthy, I dare not give my confidence lightly. Qiu Ming, you were sent by Mr. Zhang after I entered the manor. I worry that you are his person. You don't blame me, do you?"

It was the first time Qiu Ming had been treated with such candor, and she was moved.

"I don't! Your Highness, I entered the palace at age five. Before coming to the Prince's manor, I served in the Dowager's palace. Later, when the Prince established his own household, my sisters and I were transferred here. In the years since, Mr. Zhang and I have each attended to our own duties and have had no interaction. He sent me to serve you likely because he saw my background and thought me steady—there was nothing more to it."

Listening to her, Yin Jiaojiao knew she was not lying. Based on her observations over two lifetimes, this girl was indeed clean.

"Actually, Qiu Ming could guess some of your thoughts. Your worry is quite necessary. In the past, you were always too..." She weighed her words carefully, "...too trusting of your own people, which is why you always upset the Prince. Actually, the Prince is not as you think..."

Clean-hearted, but with a penchant for speaking well of Xiao Yuanchi—this was Qiu Ming's greatest flaw.

Yin Jiaojiao interrupted firmly, "Stop, let’s not talk about the Prince."

Qiu Ming said, "Oh." She then added, "In any case, Your Highness, I have no two hearts toward you."

"If one day... the Prince and I become irreconcilable, whose side will you take?"

Qiu Ming answered quickly, "I would follow you, Your Highness." But then she added, "But how could the Prince ever be irreconcilable with you?"

Yin Jiaojiao chuckled to herself, thinking: Not only irreconcilable, but likely to be at each other's throats.

"Perhaps." Yin Jiaojiao turned her face away. "Tomorrow, Xia Lan will return home. It is a perfect time for us to leave the manor as well."

"Are you going to follow her yourself, Your Highness? But didn't you ask Mr. Zhang for the Lin brothers, Lin Wen and Lin Wu?"

"I cannot keep up with her. I just haven't been out in a long time and want to get some fresh air, and by the way..." She pursed her lips, "...make room for new people."

If the assassins were successful, it would be a major affair. To be away from the manor when the investigation began would be the safest course of action. Naturally, Yin Jiaojiao could not say this aloud.

Early the next morning, before the sky had even brightened, Xia Lan set off. Before long, Qiu Ming came in to report.

"Your Highness, Lin Wen and Lin Wu have already followed her out."

"Good."

The start was smoother than expected, and Yin Jiaojiao was in high spirits. It was not that she lacked people to assign—hiring two martial artists from the Southern Market could have sufficed—but doing so would only reveal a glimpse of the hand behind the scenes without causing any real damage.

"Borrowing people from Mr. Zhang was a brilliant move," Qiu Ming said while dressing her hair. "If Xia Lan's connection with Madame Sun is exposed, Mr. Zhang's men will be the best witnesses. It will be difficult for Madame Sun to argue her way out of it. Once caught red-handed, the Prince will surely never trust her again!"

"That is not necessarily true. Whether he believes it or not has little to do with hard evidence. I only hope to use this to get her to leave the manor..." Yin Jiaojiao picked up an earring and held it to her ear, "...so she stops hovering before my eyes every day."

While she could wait for Xiao Yuanchi to pass away before chasing her off, since the opportunity had been delivered to her hands, a two-pronged approach was not bad.

Yin Jiaojiao skipped breakfast and, once ready, set out.

Since her rebirth, this was her first time out for a stroll. Familiar streets felt strangely exciting. Before she met Xiao Yuanchi, slipping out of the Prime Minister's residence to play was her daily routine. Back then, her grandmother was in good health, her reputation was not yet as dreadful as it was now, and friends visited often. Sometimes, when she felt wronged at home, she would travel with her friends, playing and having fun to dispel her bad mood. Now, everything had changed.

The teahouse opened early. Yin Jiaojiao found a window seat with Qiu Ming to listen to the storyteller.

She had often come to this teahouse in the past. There were few morning customers, and the repertoire mostly consisted of outdated, old stories. The storyteller was a young apprentice. The last time she had come was a year and a half ago, and that time they were recounting the Three Kingdoms.

Yin Jiaojiao picked up her teacup, and just as she brought it to her lips, she heard the storyteller bobbing his head and saying: "Picking up from where we left off, the Prime Minister’s daughter, 'Yin the Bludgeon,' punched the Duke's second daughter and kicked the libationer's third girl, finally squeezing her way to General Xiao’s side. Poor General Xiao, having just returned from the battlefield, had to face this shrew, 'Yin the Bludgeon.' Oh my, oh my, whatever is to be done!"

Yin Jiaojiao choked on her water.

She had not expected that "The Tale of the Prime Minister's Daughter Chasing Her Husband," once a bestseller, had fallen so far as to be relegated to the morning sessions. Just as she decided to pretend she hadn't heard, Qiu Ming murmured beside her, "Your... ahem, Madam, this 'Yin the Bludgeon' from the Prime Minister's residence... it sounds a bit familiar."

"Don't be so surprised. There are many prime ministers' daughters in storybooks. Drink your tea."

Qiu Ming pricked up her ears while pouring tea, the more she heard, the more wrong it seemed, and her brow furrowed tighter.

"Madam, could it be that this is about..."

Yin Jiaojiao rubbed her forehead, knowing she couldn't hide it.

"Keep your voice down. Is this something to be proud of?" She looked away, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "That person is me."

Qiu Ming covered her mouth in surprise.

"But... why call you 'Bludgeon'?"

"Don't you listen to storytellers often?"

"I do, but only to stories like 'The Autumn of the Han Palace' or 'The Pavilion of Moon Worship.' The ladies in the palace prefer lively dramas; things like the Monkey King fighting the White Bone Spirit are the most popular."

The girl was simple-minded, so Yin Jiaojiao had to patiently explain, "What you mentioned are old classics. What we are listening to now are called 'contemporary tales,' mostly adapted from real events that happened in the last twenty years. To avoid trouble from the people involved, the authors change their real names to aliases."

"What alias is 'Bludgeon'?"

"Bludgeon flower," Yin Jiaojiao sighed. "Listen a bit more and you'll hear another alias."

Before the words had faded, the storyteller continued: "That Yin the Bludgeon is nowhere near as graceful as the contemporary Goddess of the Luo River, Gu Youlan!"

"Gu Youlan?" Qiu Ming was bewildered. "Could that be Madame Sun?"

"It is. They only keep the surname and use a flower name as an alias. They are talking about the past between them and me before I married into the Prince's manor."

Qiu Ming could not process this for a long time. She had heard some things about Yin Jiaojiao and Xiao Yuanchi before the marriage, but those were just casual remarks from the manor's matrons. Mr. Zhang managed the household strictly, and gossip rarely survived. Thus, she only knew that the Princess favored the Prince too much and acted out of turn, which indirectly led to her bad reputation.

Hearing it today, it wasn't just a "bad reputation"—it was notorious.

"Bludgeon flower" was a nickname; her real name was unknown. People only knew it as a wild weed found by the roadside, growing wherever there was soil, spreading with the wind—the most worthless of things. "Youlan" (Orchid) was different—a gentleman among flowers, noble and pure, used in sacrifices and poetry, extremely precious.

She couldn't help but feel indignant: "Madam, how is that fair? I think she is the one who should be the wild flower!"

Yin Jiaojiao had already become numb, but seeing someone speak up for her moved her.

"These books were not written today. They were very popular for a while. Perhaps in the eyes of others, my actions really were as unrefined as a bludgeon flower."

"How is a bludgeon flower unrefined? In my opinion, it is more precious than an orchid."

A clear, gentle male voice sounded from behind. Yin Jiaojiao turned in a hurry, and upon seeing who it was, she froze.

Qiu Ming rose tremblingly, unable to utter a single word.