CHAPTER 164: CHAPTER 164: JINX

The brows were drawn, the blush was vivid, and the robe was woven from imperial tribute silk.

As she leaned forward with her slender fingers, stained with red polish, to pick up a bright red cherry to eat, Pingyang Princess paused at Tang Xiaobai’s question and laughed awkwardly.

"It’s not really a matter of liking..."

"Wasn’t Gongsun Yi’s official position something you helped with?"

"It was..."

Tang Xiaobai silently looked at her.

Pingyang Princess smiled, slowly took the handkerchief from the side, and leisurely wiped her fingers: "It’s not really about liking him that much; it’s just that I found the few poems he wrote flattering me rather well, so I had someone fill in a vacancy for him."

Tang Xiaobai found himself at a loss for words: "You do know it’s flattery..."

"Flattery it is!" Pingyang Princess waved her hand carelessly and laughed, "He kneels on the ground, looking up at me, flattering me to the best of his ability, and when I’m pleased with what I hear, I give him what he wants. Isn’t that a win-win?"

Tang Xiaobai suddenly recalled how she and Zhao Jing used to interact, and he was momentarily speechless.

"Gongsun hasn’t offended you, has he?" Pingyang Princess suddenly thought to ask, "You know, he comes from a poor background and lacks insight. Once he gained power, it’s inevitable for him to adopt some petty people’s ways. Did he unwittingly cross paths with you? I’ll send someone to talk to him!"

Tang Xiaobai was speechless for a while and shook his head: "He hasn’t exactly offended me..." It’s just disgusting, "you do know that people like him tend to become arrogant when they gain success. Now he can’t wait to go to our academy every day and throw his weight around."

Pingyang Princess giggled: "Isn’t throwing one’s weight around quite normal? Don’t your servants do that?"

Tang Xiaobai found himself unable to refute.

When it comes to throwing one’s weight around, the servants from Duke Yan Mansion are not much more modest than Gongsun Yi.

To quote Miss Tang, those from Duke Yan Mansion who go out are not allowed to act humbly and disgrace her.

"If he gets in your way, I’ll teach him a lesson. If not, just turn a blind eye; Gongsun is, after all, someone under my wing." With that, Pingyang Princess laughed and went to pick up another cherry.

Tang Xiaobai looked at her, a bit dazed.

The way Pingyang Princess is now, one could say she’s living freely or living in a daze.

After she broke things off with Zhao Jing, it seems she no longer has anything she particularly cares about...

...

After talking with Pingyang Princess, Tang Xiaobai suddenly saw Gongsun Yi differently.

Gongsun Yi was like a pet Pingyang Princess kept. Although he was noisy and a bit annoying, he wasn’t harmful and even knew not to bark at her.

So, out of respect for his master, Tang Xiaobai decided to pretend not to see him.

However, perhaps because he became busy with official duties, or maybe because Pingyang Princess said something, in the days that followed, Tang Xiaobai didn’t see Gongsun Yi again, but instead began seeing Feng Pu frequently.

Feng Pu was ordered by Prince Jin, Li Shu, to seek out Ye Qingrong.

Sometimes he would deliver a small gift, other times arrange a meeting.

As for why it was always Feng Pu who came, Tang Xiaobai thought it was most likely because Ye Qingrong had given a hint, and among Li Shu’s guards, Feng Pu was the oldest.

That afternoon after school, he saw Feng Pu and Ye Qingrong talking again, with a somewhat familiar demeanor.

At that time, Tang Xiaobai watched and had a vague notion in his mind, but couldn’t quite grasp it.

By the time he remembered, it was already dusk.

As summer approached, Tang Xiaobai began to use the small pavilion in the bamboo grove again.

At this moment, the setting sun was like blood, slanting into the pavilion, casting irregular jade fragments in front of her, resembling a group of broken tombstones, which made Tang Xiaobai’s heart race with fear.

"Go! Call Ah Xiao over!"

...

When Li Mu arrived at the small pavilion in the bamboo grove, he saw the young lady with various sizes of jade stones spread before her, holding a strangely shaped small knife, gazing intently with a serious expression.

"Ah Xiao has arrived," the maid reported.

She came back to her senses and waved everyone out of the pavilion.

"What are you doing?" Li Mu sat down opposite her, looking at the small knife in her hand and the small pieces of jade scattered about.

Tang Xiaobai shook the small knife in her hand and said, "I found a small knife for engraving seals, and I wanted to learn how to carve seals. —"

Tang Shigong, seeing her fondness for books and stationery, had a box of stationery sent to her room.

She had found pens, paper, ink, and seals in it. She even found a bunch of materials for seal carving, including carving knives and high-quality jade.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to use the high-quality jade for playing and just used the carving knife to practice on the leftover jade bits for now.

"Once I’ve learned, how about I carve a small seal for you to play with?" Tang Xiaobai laughed.

Li Mu felt a stir in his heart and said, "I’d like to learn too."

Tang Xiaobai naturally handed him the carving knife she was holding.

Li Mu was stunned: "There’s no spare knife?"

"Just this one," Tang Xiaobai said nonchalantly, "you take it first, I’ll send someone to get another one later."

Li Mu hesitated for a moment, but accepted it.

He picked up a piece of jade at random, carefully lowered the knife.

"Saw Feng Pu again today," the young lady’s voice came from across.

Li Mu responded indifferently with a "mm," he had seen him too.

"Ah Xiao—" she called him once.

Li Mu heard the weight in her voice, stopped and looked up.

"You have to be careful," she said, "if someone notices Ye Qingrong deliberately getting close to Feng Pu, they might silence him—"

She remembered from the original book, Ye Qingrong encountered many twists and turns investigating the Qin Family’s case, which took up quite a bit of space, and basically every witness found ended up dead.

Feng Pu was an important witness, and since he was openly in Chang’an, it was impossible for no one to notice his movements.

Lately, Feng Pu had clearly been in more contact with Ye Qingrong.

Even if it’s for precaution, the people behind the scenes might kill Feng Pu!

"Be careful of Feng Pu, he might die—"

...

Feng Pu died.

It seems she jinxed him.

Just three days after saying that Feng Pu "might die," he did.

The cause of death was that he fell from his horse after drinking, breaking his neck in the process.

"A clean job," Li Mu said blandly.

Tang Xiaobai shivered at the sound.

The other party may not have any substantial evidence, but having already targeted Feng Pu, they very likely also noticed Ye Qingrong, and even those who had secretly investigated Feng Pu, like Tang Xiao.

"The one who killed him might be the same person who ordered him to frame the Qin Family," Tang Xiaobai said.

Li Mu acknowledged with a "mm," then took a letter from his clothes and handed it to her.

Tang Xiaobai took it, puzzled.

"The testimony is dead, let’s look at the material evidence first," he said.

Tang Xiaobai opened the letter—

Couldn’t understand it...

Really not a single word.

"This is in Turkic script," Li Mu said, "this letter was one of the letters of treason taken from the Qin Mansion back then, though the handwriting couldn’t be matched, but—"

Before he finished speaking, the young lady across stood up abruptly.

"Wait for a moment, I’ll be right back!" With that, she clutched the letter and ran off like the wind.