Taking the Princess as My Wife - Chapter 6

The Redness of the Rose

Liu Ruheng saw that touch of crimson and was suddenly reminded of Jiang Shaojia’s lips.

Cheng Xuehai entered through the main gate in a disheveled state. Seeing Liu Ruheng, whose hair was not even slightly mussed, he felt a momentary pang of envy. “How did you get in? It’s far too chaotic outside.”

Liu Ruheng felt a bit embarrassed. She pointed toward the side door. “I slipped in through the side entrance.”

Cheng Xuehai sighed, feeling somewhat sentimental. “Young people truly are cleverer, after all. How did things go yesterday?”

Looking at the people outside, Liu Ruheng felt a weight in her heart. She sighed softly. “There hasn’t been much progress. However, before I left, it seemed they caught a servant related to the case. I wonder if the interrogation yielded any results.”

Having worked for so many years, Cheng Xuehai was more pragmatic than Liu Ruheng. Seeing her low spirits, he comforted her: “Life and death are decreed by fate; just do your duty.” He changed the subject. “It’s getting late. Let’s head to the courtroom.”

This was Liu Ruheng’s first time in the formal courtroom.

The courtroom featured black tiles and vermilion walls, spanning seven bays in width. Inside, above the main seat, hung a high plaque inscribed with the four characters ‘Ming Jing Gao Xuan’ A Clear Mirror Hung High. Outside stood a pair of Xiezhi stone carvings.

When Liu Ruheng and Cheng Xuehai arrived, it was still some time before the scheduled hour. The courtroom was sparsely populated, with only a few bailiffs present.

By rights, a case of such magnitude should undergo a joint trial by three judicial bodies. However, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies was busy handling another cold case, and the other high-ranking officials had urgent matters of their own. Thus, the task could only be entrusted to Vice Minister Lu and Assistant Minister Qiu.

Although Liu Ruheng arrived early, her official rank was low, barely securing her a seat in the back row.

After a short wait, Vice Minister Lu and Assistant Minister Qiu finally arrived. Once everyone was assembled, Vice Minister Lu declared the court in session. Before long, two bailiffs brought the servant from yesterday into the courtroom. Liu Ruheng’s hand, holding her brush, paused.

This servant had undergone severe torture during the night. His clothes were tattered, revealing rows of hideous scars; almost every inch of his exposed skin was covered in wounds. His face was deathly pale, and he knelt on the floor, supported weakly by the bailiffs.

A bailiff clasped his hands and stood behind the servant to report: “Reporting to Your Excellency, he confessed yesterday. Someone instructed him to bury the bodies. The evidence has been found in his home.”

Another bailiff presented a shovel stained with soil for the two ministers to inspect.

Vice Minister Lu looked at the servant and asked, “Is this true?”

The servant’s voice was feeble. He prostrated himself on the ground, barely managing to reply: “Replying to Your Excellency… it is true. That person never showed his face and wore only a black robe. He promised me silver once the deed was done. I… I was blinded by greed and agreed. I beg for Your Excellency’s mercy.”

Having spoken so much in one breath, his face turned even paler.

Liu Ruheng keenly noticed that the unfamiliar man sitting opposite her did not look well; a flash of panic and guilt darted through his eyes. She leaned over and whispered, “Master Cheng, is that man opposite us from the Marquis of Yuchang’s household?” She felt something was amiss with him.

Cheng Xuehai glanced at the man, then lowered his head and whispered back with a hint of contempt, “That is the master of the second branch of the Marquis of Yuchang’s household. He’s just a profligate dandy; pay him no mind. He is likely here representing the Marquis’s house.”

A profligate dandy…

Liu Ruheng’s gaze sharpened. It wouldn’t be surprising for a dandy to commit such acts. However, looking at him, he didn’t seem to have the courage to murder eleven people. But appearances could be deceiving; this Second Master of the Marquis’s house might truly be connected to the case.

Sure enough, after the bailiffs led the servant away, Vice Minister Lu summoned the Second Master of the Marquis of Yuchang’s household to the stand.

The Marquis of Yuchang’s family was an ancestral house of officials, and their discipline regarding etiquette was strict. Thus, upon entering the court, this seemingly indolent Second Master followed the rules and performed his salutations.

Seeing his lack of panic, Liu Ruheng wondered: Does this man have some powerful backing that allows him to be so arrogant?

Vice Minister Lu’s questioning was standard, covering only routine matters. The Second Master answered fluently and logically, not at all like the unreliable person his appearance suggested—he was as slippery as an eel.

But Liu Ruheng trusted her eyes; the flash of panic and guilt on the Second Master’s face had been real.

After several rounds of questioning, Vice Minister Lu’s expression grew solemn. He took a sip of tea and set the cup down heavily. “Lu Deyou, you claim the servant is maliciously framing you and that he was the one who killed all those people? That is far too preposterous.”

“The bailiffs found a great deal of silver in the servant’s home, all stamped with the seal of a Suzhou bank. Everyone in the capital knows your mother is the daughter of the wealthiest man in Suzhou.”

The Second Master gave a superficial smile. “Your Excellency, that isn’t quite right. Common currency cannot serve as evidence. Perhaps an evil servant robbed his master and stole my family’s silver.”

Vice Minister Lu’s face darkened. The evidence held by the authorities was too thin; they could only prove that a servant of the Marquis’s household had buried the bodies in the garden. Furthermore, the Marquis of Yuchang was an old member of the nobility. Without ironclad evidence, the retired Old Marquis would never allow his beloved second son to be detained at the Court of State Ceremonies.

The entire courtroom fell into a deathly silence.

“Your Excellency, I have a report!” A travel-worn bailiff walked into the courtroom, his hem stained with mud. The Vice Minister nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.

“Just now, in a corner of the garden, I discovered a twelfth body. After the coroner’s examination, it was found that this person died the day before yesterday. There appears to be the flesh and blood of the killer remaining under her fingernails.”

A flash of surprise and joy crossed Vice Minister Lu’s eyes. He looked on intensely. “Second Master, I must ask you to submit to a physical examination.”

In the blink of an eye, it was time to end the shift.

Liu Ruheng exhaled a long breath of turbid air. After that bailiff arrived, the situation had shifted instantly. What puzzled Liu Ruheng was that the Second Master had no injuries on his body.

Fortunately, the investigation had found a direction. Vice Minister Lu and Assistant Minister Qiu could only arrange for bailiffs and maidservants to conduct physical exams on the members of the Marquis’s household.

The process of the examination was not smooth. For noble families, a physical exam was equivalent to a humiliating insult to their prestige. However, Vice Minister Lu was no pushover. He instructed Liu Ruheng and Cheng Xuehai to prepare a formal report tonight, attached with the previous transcripts, to be presented to the Emperor during tomorrow’s morning court.

Beyond that, the Marquis of Yuchang’s household was placed under strict guard by Vice Minister Lu’s men, with no one allowed in or out.

Upon returning home, before Liu Ruheng could even change out of her official robes, she saw Li Anyu running toward her holding a letter.

“Master, this is a letter sent from the Princess’s Manor.”

Liu Ruheng took the letter. The Princess’s handwriting was quite different from the standard, delicate Zanhua small script; her writing was bold and unrestrained Xingcao (running-cursive) script.

The envelope was addressed to ‘Liu Ruheng, for her eyes only.’ Liu Ruheng took the letter but did not open it in front of Li Anyu. “Besides this letter, did the Princess send anything else?”

Li Anyu nodded with a smile. “In addition to the letter, she sent a lovely pigeon. Mother fed it some corn kernels, and it is now hanging under the eaves of your study.”

A pigeon. A smile couldn’t help but tug at the corners of Liu Ruheng’s mouth. This must be a pigeon trained by the Princess’s Manor; it would save a lot of trouble for delivering messages in the future.

After a few more words with Li Anyu, Liu Ruheng went to her study. Without even changing her robes, she impatiently opened the letter.

The content of Jiang Shaojia’s reply spanned a full page, and reading it made Liu Ruheng’s face flush. Phrases like “Consort, do not forget to write,” and “Consort is much to my liking” appeared numerous times.

Aside from those, there were also serious matters. She agreed to the meeting during Liu Ruheng’s day off and attached instructions on how to care for the pigeon.

She carefully folded the letter and placed it inside a book she rarely read, then went to look at the pigeon.

The pigeon was kept in a cage but did not seem lethargic. Seeing Liu Ruheng approach, it cooed twice quite intelligently. Liu Ruheng actually thought she saw a hint of pride in its bead-like eyes.

The corners of her lips curved upward as she picked up a small bag of corn kernels nearby and fed some to the bird. Her thoughts began to drift.

When she was much younger, Liu Ruheng’s family had been quite wealthy. She had kept a bird once—a lonely chick left behind in a nest that had fallen to the ground during a storm.

After saving the bird, Liu Ruheng raised it. At that time, she cherished this hard-won bond, slowly nursing the skin-and-bones chick until it grew into a plump, though grey, little sparrow.

But later, after her father and brother passed away, that little sparrow was turned into a mess of blood and flesh to nourish the banyan tree in the courtyard during the raids by her clansmen.

She watched the pigeon for a long time until it cooed twice again, snapping her out of her memories. Putting the corn kernels back, Liu Ruheng’s gaze became resolute. Simply waiting for death was not her style.

If she could create value for Jiang Shaojia—even if it was just being used—she might still be able to live well with her family even if the truth was eventually revealed.

After finishing dinner and bathing, Liu Ruheng returned to the study.

The first step in creating value was to complete the task given by the Princess.

Investigating the truth regarding the Left Prime Minister was still difficult, but writing a love letter? That should be effortless; after all, she had earned the title of Tanhua (third place in the imperial exams).

That night, Liu Ruheng crumpled the letter paper into a ball, so frustrated she nearly burned it all. She had forgotten that policy essays and love letters were two entirely different things. She felt the content she had just written was an eyesore.

Lines like “One day apart feels like three autumns” or “Missing you to the point of madness”—Liu Ruheng could write them, but she couldn’t bring herself to send them.

She slumped onto the desk in despair, a flash of desperation in her eyes. Why had she turned up her nose when her classmates discussed love letters? Why hadn’t she listened to a few more sentences?

Pulling out a fresh sheet of paper, Liu Ruheng pondered for a long time and finally decided to seek outside help. She threw on a coat and quietly went to her mother’s flower garden, picking the most beautiful blossom in the dark.

As she plucked the flower, a fleeting sense of guilt crossed her heart, but she only truly felt at ease once she returned to the study with it. The crimson Chinese rose emitted a subtle, elegant fragrance. Seeing that touch of red, Liu Ruheng was suddenly reminded of Jiang Shaojia’s lips.

They were just like the rose petals—crimson, soft, and fragrant.

As if she had committed a crime, Liu Ruheng immediately looked away. She found a small vase and placed the rose inside.

She only hoped the rose would not wither too quickly.

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