The Deposed Crown Prince had Three Lifelong Regrets - Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Five days later, at noon.

The straw carriage entered the boundary of Yuzhou, and Lu Fengmian had just boarded the arranged carriage.

Yuzhou was Prince Zhao’s fiefdom, a place of extraordinary beauty, with rolling mountains and lingering mist.

Lights were brightly lit inside Prince Zhao’s residence, welcoming the distinguished guest. The silhouettes of the two people were reflected on the window paper, and no one knew what they discussed that day.

Initially, the host only spoke with her from behind a screen. Later, he sent someone to pull the screen aside.

The middle-aged man inside looked very imposing, with a robust figure, a broad chest, and two deep lines on his face, giving him an unbeatable aura.

To show sincerity, he did not let the girl next to him leave first but personally ripped the mask from her face.

Lu Fengmian held her breath. She recognized this person. His name was Bai Yunxi.

The girl’s dark hair was lustrous, her skin as delicate as fine porcelain, and her cheeks pale with a slight blush. She showed no signs of having suffered any hardship.

“Miss Lu, we meet again.” Her face was like the autumn moon, the spring dawn flower, a very, very beautiful woman.

However, the subtle sharpness inadvertently revealed in her eyes reminded people that this person was not as simple as she appeared.

Her pale, water-like lips parted like a sharp blade, “I thought I would have to wait a long time before we could acknowledge each other. I didn’t expect you to arrive so early, Miss.”

Although Lu Fengmian had always been in the fog, seeking out the past like a bedrock, she was thoroughly confused now.

She didn’t understand why Li Qinghuai had told her to strike the imperial drum.

Unable to comprehend, unable to sort through her thoughts, she subtly took a small step backward.

“Cheng Mei, don’t be afraid. Jinzhou is a place where you can entrust your back. Not long ago, you considered this place home. Most people here recognize you.”

Goodness, not a single sentence made sense.

“Imperial Uncle…”

The two words had just escaped when they were thrust back at her.

“I know you’ve forgotten, Miss. It doesn’t matter. Yunxi will help you remember.”

The person’s elegant and indifferent appearance gradually twisted in her eyes. Lu Fengmian followed the other party’s slight curl of her eyes, ignoring the chaotic vibration of her heart.

The lotus patterns on her hem were faintly visible. With a wave, a light scent of sandalwood emanated.

“It’s hard to make you believe it when I say it. Do you recognize this incense?” Bai Yunxi put down a letter and an object. “It’s an anointing incense made from musk and sweet flag. It’s refreshing and revitalizing. However, the fact that you can remember is mainly the result of your own efforts, Miss.”

She tapped the letter with her finger. “Please read it.”

Lu Fengmian felt it necessary to remind them, pursing her lips, “Actually, I only remember some fragments.”

As expected, the other person’s knuckle froze, and her brows furrowed.

Lu Fengmian looked up again, nodding with earnest sincerity.

Such earnest eyes, however, seemed to scald her. She suddenly snatched back her fingertips, and anger flickered in her eyes.

“You don’t remember anything? No wonder you could be so indifferent! Where is Cong Ji? Is she just a useless glutton? A complete failure.”

Cong Ji had already separated from Lu Fengmian. Miss Lu didn’t need to worry about her. Just stay and watch the show. It was truly good that she could remember the truth one step ahead.

She quickly picked up the letter. She recognized every word inside, but put together, she couldn’t analyze the meaning.

It was a distraction. Three pages of pleasantries mixed with scattered pieces of information.

Looking horizontally and vertically, she actually discerned four characters from the vigorous brushwork: “Eating raw meat and blood.”

Man eats man, man kills man.

Such familiar handwriting…

Bai Yunxi observed with cold eyes, his look of disgust completely unconcealed.

Empress Mother had a compassionate heart. She tolerated the spread of the epidemic and disrupted the court to seize power, but ultimately, the situation became irreversible. To preserve her superficial glory, she chose to hang herself.

All people were pieces on her chessboard. Zhao Mengchuan was originally the most convenient piece, but after his death, he left behind a solitary pawn. Yet, the Zhu family was merciless. While treating Miss Lu kindly, they still regarded her as part of the plan.

The playmate of Crown Prince Lingwei, and her connection to the martial arts world.

Even if she had no practical use, the late Empress would still care for her for the sake of the family’s reputation. But the strange thing was that the older generation was gone, and the younger one was still useful.

Her fingernails dug into the flesh of her palm. Lu Fengmian didn’t notice that her left hand was already bloody, but then she felt a sense of relief.

Whatever. It doesn’t matter.

They went to so much trouble to bring me here, they must have predicted I would help them, right?

“Young Master Shang, I want to hear about Young Master Shang… And what do you want me to do?”

“Lu Fengmian, no matter what you thought then, your current self will not understand. I don’t expect you to help with anything. I only hope you remember the kindness shown and do not reveal that we met.”

“This is beneficial to both of us.”

That night, Lu Fengmian looked at the moon through the window. She suddenly felt the bright moon was flawless, but people’s hearts were unpredictable. She wondered if she would ever be able to share the moonlight with anyone again.

Lamps burned into the day. Just as the new policies in the capital were in full swing, people noticed her return to the capital.

After returning, she first visited the Princess Residence. A glance from the outside would infect one with joy. It was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers, as if afraid others wouldn’t know a new mistress would soon join the residence.

She couldn’t tell how many people were watching her initially: Prince Zhao’s people, her uncle and aunt’s people. Now that she had traveled far to Jinzhou and returned to the capital, there must be more than one or two who noticed the abnormality.

And the Emperor, did the Emperor know?

A palace boy in comical clothes limped and scurried, stumbling and staggering to Lu Fengmian, smiling warmly, “Miss, this is the Red Crisp Hand pastry sent by my Prince. Allow me to escort you back to your residence.”

“Is this wedding candy?” Lu Fengmian asked, taking a different approach, teasing Wenchang about her eagerness to marry a new wife.

The palace boy awkwardly bowed, raising his hand in a gesture to invite her out.

The Princess Residence was still guarded by the Imperial Guards, but everyone knew Wenchang was currently staying in the palace. The residence was holding the grudges of the past, not her.

Officials and nobles surrounded the area, sending in large and small packages. But they were all stopped without exception.

Lu Fengmian looked back one last time, preparing to walk back to the Zhao Residence. Her arm suddenly felt heavy. The eyes meeting hers were bloodshot, deep crimson.

She found this person very strange, like a dog that had been whipped, outwardly strong but inwardly weak and dispirited.

If she hadn’t struggled free, she might have let him leave like a passing cloud out of pity. But if the “vagrant” refused to let go, she would have no choice but to use sharp words to put on airs, push the person away, and look around with a frown.

The person had an extraordinary demeanor, which made her overlook his ragged appearance.

But he still didn’t seem easy to deal with. Moreover, in the current situation, she was truly like a duckweed drifting in the wind. She should stay far away from disputes, or she might be sold out and still help count the money.

Lu Fengmian did not want to walk into a trap. She kept her voice low, “Let go. It’s inappropriate to be pulling and tugging in public.”

Her words stunned the person, but the eagle claw gripping her didn’t loosen.

Lu Fenghuai was genuinely annoyed. Just as she was about to flare up again, she heard the person utter very softly, “The Imperial Palace. I need to see Her Highness Li.”

She was so angry she laughed.

Her Highness Li, Her Highness Li. With both of you surnamed Li, which Her Highness Li are you talking about?

If I send you to the Fourth Prince, would you be willing?

After all, I can’t even see the main person. How does a servant delivering a box of pastries make people think I’m enjoying exclusive favor? Ridiculous.

Utterly ridiculous.

Seeing Lu Fengmian’s expression grow increasingly ugly, the servant quickly stepped out to mediate, comforting both parties with kind words. In the end, he ushered the vagrant into the Princess Residence and urged her to go home quickly, as if afraid something might happen to her.

Li Qinghuai had already delivered the wedding invitation to the Zhao family. Her uncle might be waiting for her now.

“Follow me, go inside.”

She looked at him curiously. The hand gripping her was slack and drooping. The veins were bulging, the back was covered with fine black threads, the seams of the fingers were yellow, and the joints were swollen.

It was like a crab’s six legs; none of the fingers could be straightened.

Lu Fengmian was not afraid. Instead, she felt somewhat relieved.

This shriveled, unattractive hand reminded her of Li Qinghuai. Her hands were not well-maintained either.

The servant quickly glanced at the two with his small, mung-bean-sized eyes, repeatedly biting his teeth and sighing, as if he wanted to stomp the ground a foot deep.

Lu Fengmian avoided trouble like the plague, and the same went for troubling others. She was not prepared to stay and be humiliated. The seven characters of “uninvited guest” and “getting the cold shoulder” had already made her want to retreat.

“Follow me inside…”

When the middle-aged man pulling her repeated the phrase a second time, a slap nearly flew out.

“Straighten your tongue before you speak to me! If you keep mumbling and tugging, I’ll see you at the Ministry of Justice!” Lu Fengmian said angrily.

The servant probably saw that the situation was getting out of hand and conceded, saying in a sharp voice, “Don’t argue, you two. Please come inside. Otherwise, people will say the servants of our Princess Residence have no manners.”

The Wenchang Residence had a new view every five steps and a different sight every ten steps. The landscape and water were beautiful. Even the maids were dressed in a pleasing manner, with round, endearing faces.

The bronze lion door slowly closed, isolating the street’s clamor outside.

She walked past countless potted landscapes to the corner of the guest rooms, maintaining her silence, asking no questions.

“Inform your master that I’ll share a room with this young lady. We met on Camel Ridge Mountain, so we are familiar with each other.”

Lu Fengmian finally reacted, asking, “Who are you?”

“I am a mother’s son, a wife’s husband, and a child’s father.”

“I have loved Jiang Yule for a hundred years.”

“A thousand years, ten thousand years,” she casually finished the sentence, walking into the guest room, but then circled out again, following a baseless instinct to walk in a different direction.

“The security of the Princess Residence half a year ago was not as lax as it is today. Back then, it was surrounded tightly, and not even a fly could get in.”

One blue stone brick abutted the next. The scenery changed with every step.

The servant’s face was flushed. He verbally attacked and mocked the guests, speaking ill of them as guests who didn’t act like guests, learning their subservience in a cesspit.

Lu Fengmian’s expression was normal, because all the servants who challenged and insulted her, using every verbal sarcasm and physical obstruction, never actually insulted or truly touched her.

They raised their arms to block her but weakened just as she reached them.

She certainly wouldn’t be so conceited as to think they were only pretending to stop her and actually wanted her to enter.

All these servants were mindful of their past connection. Mindful of the connection from the past.

They were familiar with the person she used to be, but they were utterly resistant to the person she was now.

Lu Fengmian arrived at a desolate group of houses, looking up at the rolling clouds in the sky and the setting sun.

“Jiang Yule went mad. Is the madwoman’s husband looking for an explanation, or someone to cooperate with? Bai Yunxi is Prince Zhao’s man, so who am I, and who is Her Highness Wenchang?”

“You were put in a sack, and the sack was placed on a freight cart full of straw. After a long, bumpy journey, you finally met Prince Zhao.”

She looked down at her fingertips, which were soft and lustrous. Her ten fingertips were like bamboo shoots, and her wrists like white lotus roots.

Lu Fengmian frowned and looked at the servant holding a broom, shrugging.

“It’s your turn to speak. They won’t let me talk anymore.”

“You left the capital but were knocked unconscious and taken to Jinzhou. The villain was hidden in black clothes, interrogating prisoners. Water disaster. Secretly punishing people.” He spoke vaguely, like a street-side fortune teller.