The Heart Given to Brighten the Moon - Chapter 3

Watching the intense gaze of the “young beauty from a humble home,” Shen Danxin’s heart sank. No matter how slow her wits might be, she could see that this young lady wasn’t acting on a sudden malicious whim; she was ten-tenths dead serious.

“I, I’m not some assassin. I just.” Shen Danxin took a deep breath, feeling a despair greater than death itself. “I just passed by an antique shop, stepped inside for a look, and then fell into a lake.”

Song Mingyue clearly didn’t believe a word of it. “Setting aside your nonsensical ramblings” She weighed the clothes Shen Danxin had changed out of, let out a cold sneer, and added, “This outfit alone is enough to have your entire clan executed.”

Shen Danxin felt half of her soul leave her body. Her heart rattled like a sieve. After several rounds of deep breathing, she finally composed herself enough to ask, “May I ask the Lady, what year and month is it?”

Song Mingyue mocked her. “And you still claim not to be an assassin? Today is the eighth day of the eleventh month in the eleventh year of the Taiyuan Era!”

“Taiyuan?” Shen Danxin muttered to herself, then asked further, “And who is the current Son of Heaven?”

Looking as though she were enjoying a show, Song Mingyue answered patiently, “Emperor Gaowu, Zhao Zongqian.”

“Then you” Shen Danxin pointed a finger toward Song Mingyue. Song Mingyue met her gaze with a ruthless glare, causing Shen Danxin to quickly shift her tone. “Where exactly is this place?”

“The capital of the Southern Jin, Longcheng. Within the forbidden city, the servants’ quarters!” Song Mingyue ground out each word, seemingly reaching the limit of her patience.

Shen Danxin nodded with a look of realization. “I have finished my questions.” She then added with a respectful expression, “Oh, right. May I ask the Lady’s honorable name?”

Song Mingyue suddenly gave a faint, charming smile. The flush on her face did not diminish the thousand-fold grace she exuded in that moment, nor did it soften her haughty pride. Her vermilion lips parted slightly. “Song Mingyue.”

” Entrusting the heart to the bright moon, letting its flowing shadow enter my beloved’s embrace. A fine name,” Shen Danxin said with a calm smile.

Song Mingyue looked at her with a peculiar expression, her brow furrowed. She hadn’t expected Shen Danxin to react this way. Within these forbidden walls and indeed, across the empire there was no one who did not know the name “Song Mingyue.” After a moment of silence, Song Mingyue lost the patience for further interrogation. “Though Mingjue was unfortunate enough to encounter you, I cannot keep you here. Shall I do it myself, or?”

“Who is Mingjue?” Shen Danxin asked in return, blinking her almond eyes with an innocent and pitiable look.

Song Mingyue had suffered countless humiliations today; even the best of tempers would have been ground to dust. Although the mysterious woman before her looked harmless, her behavior was far too suspicious. Song Mingyue was already like a “clay Buddha crossing a river” barely able to save herself, a pitiable soul living from meal to meal. In this towering forbidden city, excess mercy only invited death, yet Shen Danxin persisted in playing deaf and dumb.

Enraged beyond reason, Song Mingyue frantically searched the room. Finally, in a woven bamboo basket on the bedside cabinet, she found a pair of rusted scissors. Like a drowning person clutching a straw, she gripped them tightly to her chest, the sharp end pointing toward Shen Danxin. Whether she was a match for the other woman or not, she couldn’t lose on spirit!

“If I do it myself, I promise you won’t like the outcome!”

Shen Danxin was truly frightened. Her face turned pale as she waved her hands frantically. “Little beauty no, Miss Mingyue! Let’s talk this through. Put the scissors down first. There is no obstacle we cannot overcome with words.”

But Song Mingyue wasn’t buying it. She held her stance and said fiercely, “Do not come closer! This ‘Beijinger’ nonsense, this ‘Xiushui East Street’ I have never heard of such things. Do not think that because I am under-educated, I am easily bullied!”

Shen Danxin was like a mute person eating bitter herbs unable to voice her grievances. She wanted nothing more than to slap herself; this mouth of hers, aside from eating, did nothing but invite trouble. She tried to emulate the “damsel in distress” from novels, attempting to squeeze out a few tears to move Song Mingyue’s heart of stone. But after much effort, not only was it useless, it even drew Song Mingyue’s lethal suspicion.

“What are you doing? I’m warning you, don’t try any tricks, or these scissors won’t have eyes!”

Just as Shen Danxin was at her wits’ end, a life-saving knock sounded at the door. Song Mingyue, still brandishing the scissors, froze. She shouted toward the door, “Who is it!”

Immediately, Song Mingjue’s aggrieved voice came from outside. “It’s me, Sister. It’s been half an incense stick’s time.”

A rustle of movement followed inside. When the door opened, Song Mingjue froze on the spot. He saw Song Mingyue holding a pair of rusted scissors pointed at Shen Danxin, who was still disheveled but looked much more presentable. Not understanding the situation but seeing his sister looking as though she were facing a great enemy, he didn’t dare move recklessly. He could only ask cautiously, “What has happened?”

“She is an assassin,” Song Mingyue said firmly.

“Ah!?” Song Mingjue clutched his chest. “Then, then what do we do?”

“Go call for help. I shall guard her here,” Song Mingyue said, her eyes fixed on Shen Danxin, not daring to lower her guard.

“But what if she strikes while I am gone?” Song Mingjue whispered, covering his mouth with a hand.

“She wouldn’t dare!” Song Mingyue said with total confidence.

Shen Danxin, watching the siblings play “ostrich,” suddenly wanted to laugh. An assassin with these thin arms and legs of mine? Falling into a lake in the dead of winter just to play a ‘bitter trap’ for the emperor? Yet the siblings were discussing it so earnestly that she felt bad for interrupting. But seeing the situation, if she didn’t stop them, she truly would be “smiling in the underworld.”

“Hey, Miss Mingyue, if you go call for help now, aren’t you afraid of being charged with ‘harboring a criminal’?” Shen Danxin laughed and pointed at the clothes she was wearing. “I am still wearing your clothes, after all.”

It was as if someone had smacked Song Mingyue on the forehead. She hastily grabbed the departing Song Mingjue. “Wait, Mingjue!” Her eyes clear as autumn pools darted around; she clearly wasn’t as quick-witted as a cunning person.

“She has a point.”

“Then…” Song Mingjue glanced at Shen Danxin with a troubled look. The plain, coarse hemp clothes could not hide her graceful silhouette; even in such “peasant” garb, she could not conceal her transcendent aura. How could she be an assassin? His heart stirred, and he whispered in Song Mingyue’s ear, “Sister, if she were truly an assassin, why would she fear your scissors? She would have knocked us down and escaped long ago. She doesn’t look like one to me. Why don’t we test her further?”

Song Mingyue’s eyes darted around again. Finally, she nodded. “Fine, we shall do as you say.”

Seeing his sister agree so readily, Song Mingjue was momentarily stunned, then felt a surge of joy. He spoke to Shen Danxin, who still stood there not daring to move: “I have an extra quilt in my room. If Miss Shen does not mind, please stay for the time being.”

Shen Danxin couldn’t have asked for more and immediately agreed. However, at the thought of being left alone with Song Mingyue, who looked like a “beauty” but had the temper of a “shrew” her heart trembled again. Yet, compared to the freezing cold outside, a room with a beautiful woman was far more inviting.

That night, the two lay down with their clothes on, as if separated by ten thousand mountains and seas. Shen Danxin thought for a long time but couldn’t understand why Song Mingyue had let her off so easily. Earlier, it had been a “life or death” standoff; she felt there must be a catch. But before she could figure it out, her mind became hazy, her eyelids grew heavy as ten thousand catties, and she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the wind and snow had ceased. The sun was bright a perfect picture of “spring sun on white snow.”

Accustomed to a large bed, Shen Danxin had spent a cramped and uncomfortable night. When she woke, she felt a lethal case of back pain. Once she gathered her wits, she realized the space beside her was empty.

The door pushed open at that moment. The warm sun only stingily claimed a small patch of ground at the threshold, refusing to move an inch further. Song Mingyue’s clear, ethereal face was red not from the cold, but looking as if it had been scorched by a hot iron. She carried two bowls. She glanced at Shen Danxin sitting on the bed and said coldly, “Time to eat.”

Shen Danxin secretly pursed her lips and obediently got off the bed to sit at the tea table with the chipped corner. She looked down and let out an incredulous cry: “You, you eat this?”

Indeed, Shen Danxin who had never eaten anything but the finest delicacies couldn’t help but be shocked by a bowl of thin, watery rice gruel. Moreover, only a few stray grains of brown rice floated lonely on the milky-white liquid; they weren’t even as large as the snowflakes from last night.

But for Song Mingyue, it was different. In her eyes, having a bowl of steaming rice gruel on a winter morning was a luxury. Furthermore, the old cook in the kitchen had seen her “millet-like” frozen hands today and taken pity on her, which was the only reason those few grains of rice were there at all. Yet this “assassin” who didn’t know the value of life actually looked down on it. The fire Song Mingyue had been suppressing in her belly flared up instantly.

She slammed a pair of chopsticks onto the table and shouted, “Will you eat or not!?”

The wobbly, chipped tea table shook several times, and Shen Danxin’s heart shook right along with it. She picked up the bowl and slurped down several large gulps. To her surprise, the gruel was as hot as molten iron; she could only gasp for air under Song Mingyue’s menacing glare.

Seeing that Shen Danxin’s eyes were watering from the heat, Song Mingyue stopped bothering her and began to drink with a “dainty” grace. Just as Shen Danxin was sincerely marveling that a beautiful person makes even drinking gruel look like art, Song Mingyue slowly set down her bowl and chopsticks.

“Since you are staying, we must have a Three-Point Covenant,” she said calmly.

Shen Danxin, living under someone else’s roof, had no right to negotiate. “Speak.”

“First: You are not permitted to leave this room without permission. The eunuchs and maids in the servants’ quarters are all familiar with my brother and me; I cannot explain away a stranger appearing out of thin air.”

Reasonable. Shen Danxin nodded.

“Second: You are of mysterious origin and speak nothing but nonsense. Regardless of the time, whenever I ask a question, you must answer truthfully without a single false word. Otherwise, even if it means our mutual destruction, I will tie you up and take you to see Zhao Zongqian.”

Unreasonable, but I have no strength to argue. Shen Danxin had no choice but to nod.

“And, whatever I say, goes. No talking back.”

“I am all ears.” Shen Danxin bowed her head and nodded like a woodpecker. A great woman knows when to yield; I can endure being a ‘tiger in a flat plain’ for a moment to reclaim my ‘green mountains and rivers’ for a lifetime.

“Third: Help me assassinate Zhao Zongqian.”

Shen Danxin was about to nod when she suddenly jerked her head up. Her eyes were filled with terror, and she shook her head frantically.

Song Mingyue’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. “If you do not kill him, how can you return to report on your mission? Do you intend to hide in these servants’ quarters for the rest of your life?”

Those words made Shen Danxin feel extremely indignant. She finally understood why Song Mingyue had let her off so easily last night, she had been digging a hole to bury her in!

Even a saint has limits. Shen Danxin found a spark of anger and hardened her resolve. She straightened her neck and said, “I, Shen Danxin, walk upright and sit straight. I wouldn’t even blink while helping an old lady across the street. Why would I act like a ‘turtle hiding its head’?”

But before Song Mingyue could applaud, she shrank her neck back, her voice losing half its volume. “But I have no grudge with that Emperor Zhao Zongqian; why should I kill him? Why will you not believe me?”

Song Mingyue stared at her intently for a long while. Suddenly, she stood up and walked to Shen Danxin’s side. Before Shen Danxin could speak, without any warning, Song Mingyue quickly pulled an object from her sleeve and stabbed it toward Shen Danxin’s pale neck.