Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife Chapter 104

Chapter 104: The Singing Phoenix Perches upon the Green Wutong

Mu Yunyao followed Madam Jin back to the rear courtyard. Many people had already come forward to offer their congratulations.

The Governor’s wife wore a brilliant smile. The rewards just now had not included her, but Governor Zhang had been bestowed a blue plume. For an official posted away from the Capital, this was an exceedingly precious reward. More importantly, this merit had practically fallen into their laps. How could she not be pleased?

Madam Jin was likewise surrounded by people offering congratulations. She had just been granted the title of Ninth-Rank Imperial Mandate Lady. No matter how jealous these people might feel in their hearts, on the surface, they all had to congratulate her with utmost sincerity.

This round of pleasantries went on for more than an hour before the Governor’s wife finally arranged for everyone to take their seats.

Mu Yunyao’s seat was arranged beside Madam Jin. As many people spoke, they smiled and nodded toward her.

Mu Yunyao’s face carried seven parts joy and three parts apprehension. From beginning to end, she returned each greeting with a smile, causing Madam Jin, who sat beside her, to sigh inwardly in admiration.

This girl was truly clever to a startling degree. Madam Jin had been worried that after receiving His Majesty’s rewards, Mu Yunyao might become carried away with pride. It seemed she had worried for nothing.

The banquet was lively and bustling, yet Mu Yunyao ate absentmindedly.

Su Qingwu’s arrival had caused her emotions to rise and fall without cease. Those blood-soaked events, long pressed into the deepest recesses of memory, surged upward once more. Just thinking of them made pain pierce through her heart.

“Yunyao, why does your complexion look so terrible? Is your hand hurting badly?”

Madam Jin felt apologetic. When they came earlier, she had been too excited and had not noticed at all that Mu Yunyao’s hand was injured.

“It is nothing. I only feel a little tightness in my chest. Madam need not worry about me.”

“If you truly feel unwell, you may go out into the courtyard for some air. The small garden is just beside us.”

Mu Yunyao nodded, but she did not move. She endured until the banquet finally ended.

At the entrance, Jin Lan and Jin Qiao stood beside the carriage. Seeing Mu Yunyao come out with a poor complexion, they hurried forward to support her.

“Miss, what is wrong?”

“It is nothing. Let us go.”

Once she climbed into the carriage and leaned against the carriage cushion, Mu Yunyao’s face abruptly turned snow-white. She pressed a hand to her chest and gasped for breath, one mouthful after another, as though only in this way could she make the pain in her heart scatter a little.

When the carriage passed Jinling Bridge, Mu Yunyao could not stop herself from calling for it to halt. Clutching her chest, she ran to the riverbank and began to retch.

Jin Lan and Jin Qiao were greatly alarmed.

“Miss, what is wrong? Did you eat something that disagreed with you?”

At the banquet earlier, she had hardly eaten anything at all. Now, there was little she could bring up, yet she still felt sick. After quite some time, she straightened and walked step by step toward Jinling Bridge.

“Miss?”

“I will stand in the wind for a while. Wait below.”

“…Yes. Then Miss must be careful.”

By now, evening was approaching. The crimson sunset clouds had not yet fully faded from the sky. Reflected upon the river’s surface, they shimmered with rippling red light, just like the bloodstains that filled her memory.

The moment she thought of the Su family, the hatred in her heart became almost impossible to control.

They were the nightmare that had shrouded her entire life, leaving her no peace for even a single moment.

Mu Yunyao closed her eyes and clenched her fists tightly. The wound in her palm split open, and blood immediately streamed down her hand.

If she went to see Mother in this state, Mother would certainly worry herself sick. She had to force herself to recover.

Mu Yunyao forced herself to think of the Su family.

Again and again, she thought of them, dragging out every memory she feared most and playing them back in her mind like an act of self-torment.

The pain in her palm was gradually drowned beneath the pain in her heart. The heart that had been torn open by Su Qingwu’s sudden arrival slowly plated itself in a layer of armor, covering the bloody wound beneath it and making her appear, once more, whole and unharmed.

Only after a long while did Mu Yunyao open her eyes.

The sky had darkened. The crimson clouds had vanished without leaving even the faintest trace.

She gently lifted the corners of her lips. Her smile was even fuller and sweeter than before.

If Su Qingwu had not suddenly appeared, she would not have known that while she hated the Su family, she also feared them deeply.

This was well enough.

Once she realized that fear existed, she could slowly overcome it.

Was she not already doing very well now?

“Su Qingwu, Su Qingwu…” she murmured softly. “The winter cicada longs for the emerald grass; the singing phoenix perches upon the green wutong. Your ambition is truly lofty…”

“I did not expect Miss Mu to know the origin of my name.”

A smiling voice suddenly sounded.

Mu Yunyao turned her head sharply and saw Su Qingwu slowly walking up from the other side of Jinling Bridge. He wore a gentle, refined smile, just like his voice, soft as water and warm as polished jade.

Su Qingwu was also looking at Mu Yunyao.

In truth, he had already been standing there for quite some time. From the moment Mu Yunyao stepped down from the carriage, he had stood on the opposite bank watching her. The more he watched, the stronger that sense of dissonance became.

He remembered that when his own younger sister had been thirteen, although she spent her days complaining to him that the momo teaching her etiquette was far too strict, most of the time, she had still been wholly happy and carefree.

But the young girl before him seemed to be desperately suppressing something.

That feeling was too strong. Merely watching her made his chest tighten, and he could not help feeling a desire to investigate.

Such emotion had come too suddenly. After it flashed past, he suppressed it.

Reason reminded him that the young girl before his eyes would have no connection with him whatsoever. There was no need to waste time on an unrelated person.

Yet when he heard her speak his name and recite, “The winter cicada longs for the emerald grass; the singing phoenix perches upon the green wutong,” his steps moved of their own accord and brought him onto the bridge.

Mu Yunyao curtsied. “Greetings, Lord Su. This young girl spoke carelessly for a moment. I ask Lord Su to forgive my offense.”

Su Qingwu studied her, and his brows moved faintly once more.

The person before him possessed a gentle and graceful air. A faint smile rested at the corners of her lips. She seemed no different from other young women when they saw him. It was as though the strangeness from earlier had only been his own illusion.

“Miss did not say anything wrong. What offense is there? My name does indeed come from those two lines of poetry.”

“Many thanks to Lord Su for your generosity. The hour is late. I should return home. Farewell.”

“I wonder when the injury in Miss Mu’s palm will heal?” Su Qingwu asked with a smile.

“Each time I am injured, my wounds recover very slowly. The weather is hot now as well. I imagine it will take half a month before it heals.”

In another month, it would be Su Qingwu’s grandmother’s birthday. By the time the wound on her hand healed, there would not be enough time.

Besides, if one wished for a wound to heal, it might not be easy; but if one wished for it not to heal, there were any number of ways.

Sure enough, a trace of disappointment flashed across Su Qingwu’s face.

“It is truly a pity. I once saw a double-sided embroidered screen of splendid rivers and mountains. The embroidery was astonishing, as though made by heaven itself…”

Mu Yunyao’s expression remained unchanged.

“Then Lord Su may seek out the person who embroidered that screen to help. I imagine your grandmother would be even more pleased.”

“Many people have been searching for the one who embroidered that screen. Unfortunately, no one has found her.”

“Then perhaps the destined meeting has not yet come. It is late, and Mother is still waiting for me at home. This common girl takes her leave.”

After Mu Yunyao finished speaking, she turned directly and descended from the bridge.

Su Qingwu’s fingers moved slightly. He watched Mu Yunyao’s departing figure and said nothing more.

She had left in such haste as though she were afraid of him.

In the Capital, he had grown accustomed to being pursued and admired. To be suddenly disliked by someone instead felt strangely novel.

As soon as Mu Yunyao descended the bridge, Jin Lan and Jin Qiao hurried forward to meet her. Seeing that her complexion had returned to normal, they released a slight breath of relief.

“Miss, are you all right?”

“It is nothing. Let us go.”

This line alludes to a verse by Li Bai, “Han jiang ai bi cao, ming feng qi qing wu” (寒螀爱碧草，鸣凤栖青梧), from Mo Shang Sang (“Mulberry on the Road”). With images of the cicada, the phoenix, and the parasol tree, the verse evokes elegance, nobility, and lofty aspiration. Here, it serves as an indirect reference to Su Qingwu, hinting at his elevated status and proud bearing.

Edited by Little Kitty on 05/06/20

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