Chapter 8: Getting Involved, Waves Stir in the Heart

Su Zhenyue returned to the West Wing Courtyard.

Doukou and Nanxing had been waiting for a long time. As soon as they saw her, they came forward to greet her. “Young Miss, you’re back? How did it go? The Young Master…”

There was no need to ask the rest, for the Rosewood Inkstone Box was still in the Young Miss’s arms.

“Cousin was unwilling to accept it.” Su Zhenyue sighed and said faintly, “He said that since it’s an heirloom, it should be properly treasured. He had me help him prune a few branches, considering that as repayment for the grace of saving my life.”

“Prune branches?” Nanxing was taken aback.

Su Zhenyue nodded. “Mhm.”

Doukou muttered under her breath, “Young Miss should have let me go with you. I would have helped you prune.”

“What are you saying? Am I incapable of even pruning a few branches?” Su Zhenyue smiled, set down the inkstone box, washed her hands, and applied a thin layer of fragrant balm.

Nanxing put the inkstone box away and remarked with a sigh, “It seems the Young Master is one who does good deeds without expecting repayment.”

“Yes,” Su Zhenyue softly agreed, thinking to herself, He can do good deeds without expecting repayment, but I cannot give up just like this.

She had to continue down this path.

As they were speaking, a clear voice suddenly drifted over, growing closer.

“Sister Su, Sister Su!”

Doukou said in pleasant surprise, “It’s the Eldest Young Miss!”

Before her voice had even faded, a girl of thirteen or fourteen came running in like a gust of wind.

It was none other than the daughter of Jing’an Hou, Gu Yuanzhen. She had been visiting her maternal grandmother’s home for the past few days and had only just returned to the estate. Hearing that Su Zhenyue was back, she had hurried over to see her.

She ran so fast that her maidservant could barely keep up behind her.

Nanxing quickly offered her a cup of warm tea.

Gu Yuanzhen took it, drained it in one gulp, casually shoved the teacup back into Nanxing’s hands, then turned and grabbed Su Zhenyue’s hand, asking urgently, “Sister Su, I heard you were nearly killed a few days ago. What on earth happened?”

The young girl’s round eyes were filled with worry.

Su Zhenyue’s expression was dazed, but waves stirred in her heart.

One reason was the memory of her perilous experience at the zhuangzi; the other was the young girl before her.

Gu Yuanzhen, thirteen years old this year, was Gu Yuanchen’s full-blooded younger sister and the only young lady of the two branches of the Jing An Marquis Estate. She had been on excellent terms with Su Zhenyue since childhood. After her eldest brother, Gu Yuanchen, married Chang Le Princess by imperial decree, she had stood up for Su Zhenyue and had given her sister-in-law no shortage of cold shoulders.

Chang Le Princess, considering her young, never stooped to her level.

In the novel, she was the sharp-tongued and “difficult sister-in-law,” but to Su Zhenyue, Gu Yuanzhen was one of the very few people who always cared for her.

At Gu Yuanzhen’s question, Doukou recalled the events of that night and said, filled with righteous indignation, “Eldest Young Miss, you have no idea. That night, the assassin was just one step away from the door to the room. We were this close, our Young Miss was almost…”

“Doukou, don’t scare Zhenzhen. Am I not perfectly fine now?” Su Zhenyue cut in.

Doukou pouted but said no more.

Gu Yuanzhen, however, asked, “An assassin? Who sent him? Was it Wen Shan?”

“Wen Shan” was Chang Le Princess’s personal name.

The moment Gu Yuanzhen said this, the maidservant she had brought with her panicked and rushed to cover her mouth. “Eldest Young Miss, don’t speak nonsense.”

“Mmph, mmph…”

Su Zhenyue sighed softly, took Gu Yuanzhen’s hand, and said in a gentle voice, “Zhenzhen, don’t say such things in the future. Everything requires evidence. If she didn’t do it, wouldn’t you be wrongly accusing a good person by saying so? And if she did do it, aren’t you afraid that by shouting like this, I’ll meet my end even faster?”

Gu Yuanzhen saw the logic in her words. Although she felt aggrieved, she finally stopped struggling to speak.

The maidservant apologized before releasing her hold.

Gu Yuanzhen slowly let out a breath. “Sister Su, I just feel wronged on your behalf. You and my eldest brother…”

“Zhenzhen, there was nothing between your brother and me in the past, and there will be nothing in the future,” Su Zhenyue said softly.

“Who says? You two clearly…”

Su Zhenyue looked up. “Was there ever a formal betrothal between us?”

“Well…” Gu Yuanzhen was at a loss for words, managing only a weak defense, “Although it was never formally settled, everyone knew about it, and my father also agreed to your marriage.”

“If it wasn’t formally settled, then it doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t count. Zhenzhen, I know you care about me, but if you truly have my best interests at heart, let’s not mention those things again, alright?” Su Zhenyue held Gu Yuanzhen’s hand, her expression earnest.

Gu Yuanzhen was silent for a moment, then wrapped her arms around Su Zhenyue, her voice muffled. “I just feel so bad for you.”

Su Zhenyue gently patted her back. “I know.”

—The two had known each other for many years. Although Su Zhenyue had initially made a deliberate effort to befriend her, feeling that she was living under someone else’s roof, over the years, she had truly come to see Yuanzhen as a little sister. So, even though Gu Yuanzhen’s concern inadvertently caused her to offend more people, she couldn’t bring herself to blame Yuanzhen.

“As long as you know,” Gu Yuanzhen mumbled, then asked uneasily, “So, they still haven’t found the assassin? Will you be in great danger?”

“It’s alright. The number of guards here has increased quite a bit, so I should be fine.” Afraid of worrying her, Su Zhenyue simply changed the subject and asked about her experiences at her maternal grandmother’s home.

This question opened the floodgates for Gu Yuanzhen. She chattered on about the fun she had with her cousins and the new foods at her grandmother’s house, not stopping for a full half-hour.

Just as she was speaking excitedly, a maidservant hurried over. “Eldest Young Miss, the Madam has returned from the palace. She saw the cat and wants you to get rid of it immediately.”

“Ah?” Gu Yuanzhen was stunned. “‘Tang Yuan’ has been staying in my room. How did Mother find out?”

The maidservant gave a wry smile. “You and the Madam live in the same courtyard, so close to each other, and cats love to run around. How could you possibly hide it forever? The Madam is terrified of cats. She said if you don’t get rid of it, she’ll have someone throw it out directly.”

Gu Yuanzhen grew anxious. “How can she do that? It took me so much effort to get it from my cousin.” Her gaze shifted, landing on Su Zhenyue, and an idea instantly formed. “Dearest sister, can I keep it here with you for now? Please help me look after it, and I’ll come over to see you both every day.”

Su Zhenyue was taken aback; this hadn’t happened in the dream. She vaguely remembered that Gu Yuanzhen’s cat seemed to have been taken in by the Fourth Young Master, Gu Yuanjing, and had nothing to do with her.

On second thought, it wasn’t so strange. In the dream, when Gu Yuanzhen had come to see her, she had still been afraid of another assassination attempt, in low spirits, and disinclined to see anyone, so she hadn’t spoken with Gu Yuanzhen for long.

Perhaps this time, the timing had just coincided.

Faced with Gu Yuanzhen’s request, Su Zhenyue pondered for a moment. “I can, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep it for too long.”

She wouldn’t be staying in the Jing An Marquis Estate for much longer.

Gu Yuanzhen waved her hand. “It’s fine, it won’t be for too long. My mother said that once spring comes, she’ll have a courtyard prepared for me to live in alone. I’ll be able to take Tang Yuan back then.”

“Alright, then.”

Having come to an agreement, Gu Yuanzhen hurried away. Not long after, she returned, personally carrying a white cat with a black tail.

“His name is Tang Yuan, and he’s not even two months old. Isn’t he handsome?” Gu Yuanzhen introduced him while instructing her maidservant to set down the newly prepared cat bed.

She relayed all the pointers she had learned from her cousin to Su Zhenyue.

Su Zhenyue noted them all down, not forgetting to remind Gu Yuanzhen, “I’ll help you raise the cat, but you mustn’t forget what you promised me: no more reckless talk, and don’t go looking for trouble with the Princess of the Commandery.”

“I know, I know. She’s observing a mourning vigil in the palace. How could I possibly go looking for her?”

“You can’t look for her when she gets back, either.”

“Oh.” Gu Yuanzhen nodded casually.

Fearing she was just being perfunctory, Su Zhenyue once again broke down the reasoning and explained it to her in painstaking detail.

The young girl was a little exasperated. “Alright, I get it. Sister Su, you don’t have to be so nice to people.”

Su Zhenyue gave a wry smile, thinking, It’s not about being nice to people; it’s about being afraid of dying.

That was why she was unwilling to get involved in the affairs between the male and female leads, and why she didn’t want Gu Yuanzhen to offend the female lead.

Only after Gu Yuanzhen left did Su Zhenyue have the leisure to take a proper look at the cat.

Tang Yuan was snow-white all over, with just a touch of black on his tail. Though small, he had a sturdy, tiger-like head and was quite friendly. He tilted his head and meowed as he came to rub against her hand.

Su Zhenyue found him amusing and played with him for a while.

Before she knew it, the sky had darkened.

After dinner, Su Zhenyue took down the qin hanging on the wall and idly plucked at its strings, her mind mulling over the day’s events.

Putting the matter of raising the cat aside for now, Shen Ji was not quite as she had imagined. He seemed easygoing and chivalrous, but in reality, he intentionally or unintentionally kept a distance from others.

But it didn’t matter. She had always been a persistent person; this small setback was not enough to daunt her.

Su Zhenyue pondered for a long time, only falling into a deep sleep at the hour of hai.

The next morning, she had just finished washing up and had yet to put up her hair when she heard Doukou call from outside the door, “Young Miss, bad news! The cat ran out!”

“Where did it run to? Quick, call it back.”

This was Gu Yuanzhen’s cat, left in her care; nothing could go wrong.

“It ran up a tree.”

Su Zhenyue hastily tied up her hair and strode into the courtyard.

In the courtyard stood a paulownia tree, about one arm’s-span in circumference. The white cat with the black tail was on the paulownia tree, meowing incessantly.

Doukou looked anxious. “Young Miss, look. We thought if it could get up, it could get down, but we didn’t expect it to stay up there.”

Everyone tried to coax it in various ways, either by calling its name or by mimicking a cat’s meow.

But Tang Yuan just clung to the tree trunk, unmoving, and continued to meow his heart out.

Su Zhenyue could see it clearly: either he couldn’t get down, or he was too scared to.

“Young Miss, perhaps we should ask those guards outside for help?” Nanxing suggested in a low voice.

Su Zhenyue was about to agree, but then she saw that this paulownia tree grew next to the courtyard wall. It was tall and dense, and many of its branches already extended into Qingfeng Courtyard in front. A thought struck her, and she shook her head. “No need. Let’s get a ladder instead. I’ll go get him down.”